


On December, 22nd

by maaldas



Series: On December 22nd [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Angst, Blood, Child Injury, Crimes & Criminals, Homophobia, M/M, Medical, Miscarriage, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:16:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maaldas/pseuds/maaldas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen, Jared and their kids were supposed to go shopping for the holidays but Jensen's father, who never liked Jared, make it difficult for Jensen to leave work early so Jared and the kids go alone.Later, when they're ready to go back home Jared and the kids are threated by an armed man. The man takes the money, the presents and unexpectedly he shots Jared and one of the kids.When Jensen gets the call he's still in the office.Jared is unconscious, hurt badly but wakes up in Christmas Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> BETA: peculiar_mind, theendermen
> 
> Originally written as fill for a prompt by Anonymous on spnkink_meme.
> 
> Disclaimer: All real people you’re about to read here? Never met them, certainly don’t own them.

**On December, 22 nd   
~Part One~**

 

 

“I got the Invoice and Packing list now, dad. There is still enough time before the closing hour tonight,” said Jensen to his father on the phone. He was ready to go home after emailing the completed documents to the shipping company to get it processed for the shipment tonight.

“Forget about it! You must go to the port now, Jensen. There’s a problem with the goods. Something about the Phytosanitary–”

“What!” shouted Jensen a bit louder into the phone. Cold and heavy feeling settled in his stomach. “But I have the Phytosanitary letter sent ahead yesterday!” 

He was talking on the phone with his father about the latest shipment. It was three days before Christmas and that meant the closing date was tonight and would not be open again until the holiday was over. 

“I don’t know Jensen! We’re held up at the gate right now. The ship is departing tonight with or without our goods and we’ve ten containers on stand by without clearance because some fucked up shit failed to do their job right. That means a breach of contract with Matsukichi.”

“I know that. I’ve read the L/C too, dad. Why me then?” Jensen asked, snorting loudly. “We have men for field jobs like this.”

“Do you see anyone right now? Wilson is sick and Gonzales is probably forty thousand feet above us right now. Their family left this morning for Madrid.”

“Who signed his damn leave…” muttered Jensen with a sigh.

“Don’t be like that Jensen. How would I know this would happen? Besides, that guy hasn’t seen his family for two years. Have a heart will you?”

Oh, that was so low. As if Jensen did not have a plan of his own and his father knew that. He had told his father yesterday that he was going to visit Jared’s parents tomorrow. That was why he prepared the documents needed for the latest shipment earlier in the week so that he could save enough time to be with his family tonight and help Jared with preparation before leaving for San Antonio tomorrow morning.  

“I don’t have time to call Allen back, who knows where he is right now. You’re the only one available in office and you know the details of the contract. And like you said, there is still enough time before the closing hour. If you’re hurry you’ll be home before midnight.”

Jensen put his elbows on the table, rubbing his forehead tiredly. “I don’t want to be home before midnight, dad,” Jensen sighed wearily. “Jared and I have a plan to go shopping with the kids. Tomorrow we’re going to visit Jared’s parents, remember?”

“You choose visiting them before Christmas instead of your own parents?”

“Come on, dad. We’ve been at this before.” Jensen sat back on his high backed plush chair, looking at the pristine white ceiling above while shaking his head in disbelieve. His father was acting like a jealous teenager. He swore that the old man took everything Jensen did with the Padaleckis as something that he had to compete with. “We’ve been celebrating Christmas at your house the last two years, right?” said Jensen wearily while rubbing his face. “We’ll be at your house at the twenty-eight until new years. I’ve promised the kids tonight. Would you please call Allen? This is his responsibility, anyway. He is probably at some bar drinking right now.”

“I will not send a drunken man to the port Jensen! You have to do it!”

“Dad…”

“Look, your kids can go ahead with Jared. You can meet with them later at the shopping mall or wherever you guys decide to meet. No big deal. The sooner you go to the port now, the sooner you’ll be with them.”

Jensen sighed tiredly. “Damn it!”

Jensen ran his hand through his short hair. He did not miss the way his father said ‘your kids’. What did his father think of Jared? His babysitter? It’s been six years but Jonathan Ackles still did not have a place in his heart for Jared. For him, Jared was not more than Jensen’s fling despite the fact that they had been married for six years now and had three children together.

“Alright,” sighed Jensen reluctantly, “I’ll call Jared and ask him to meet me at the café in front of the shopping mall.”

“Make it quick! The clock is ticking. Those ten containers must aboard the ship tonight or the penalty will be on you.”

“Fuck!”

Jensen threw away the phone right after his father hanged up. Breathing hard with repressed anger, Jensen thought it would be nice to punch someone right now. He had a sneaking suspicion that his father did this on purpose. There should have been no problem at all. Jensen had made sure to complete the documents needed before the stuffing date today. Moreover, everybody who usually handled this kind of thing had suddenly disappeared.

Jensen did not understand what made his father hate Jared’s gut with gusto. Jared was the sweetest person Jensen had ever had the pleasure to meet his whole life. He was kind and generous and had a heart made of gold. He loved to help people unconditionally, which made him a great nurse.

Jensen closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breath to calm himself down. He had to call Jared to tell him that he would not be home in time. Jared would be understanding, if not a little upset, but the children would be disappointed and Jensen hated to disappoint their children. He gathered his documents, packing up his laptop before leaving his office.

He dialed Jared’s number on his phone while descending the stairs to the basement. He remembered the first time he met Jared seven and a half years ago at a hospital in Houston where he had landed himself there due to a car accident. When Jensen woke up, he found himself alone in a sterile hospital bed and the first thing he saw besides the white ceiling of his room was Jared’s dimpled smile. Jensen would say that Jared had nursed him to health back then, despite Jared’s insistence that he was only doing his job. What could Jensen say? He was head over heels in love with his male nurse. He asked him out a week after he got his release papers from the hospital and refused to let Jared out of his sight ever since. Jensen decided that he had to have this guy before anybody else realized what a wonderful guy Jared was and snatched him away. If only his father could see the same thing as Jensen. 

He was on his way to his car when the phone was picked up and Jensen heard laughter on the other end of the line followed by a little girl’s shriek. He smiled knowing that Jared must be playing with the children while waiting for him. It made his stomach churn with guilt.

“Hi!” greeted Jared, “We’re ready! Debbie is helping Janet getting into her Angel outfit right now but don’t worry, we’ll be ready when you get home.”

“Janet is dressing as an angel?” asked Jensen amused and shortly distracted by their four year old’s antics.

“She won’t be dissuaded. I’ve tried. She says … Andy, stop teasing your sister! … says every family needs an angel for Christmas shopping.”

And Jensen laughed, “God, I love my little girl. Give her kisses from me, would you?”

“Sure but you’re coming home now, right? You’ll see her soon.”

“Well, about that, I know you will hate me for this but I think I won’t be able to come home right now. Things came up and I have to be at the dock to clear up some problem before closing time.”

“But … what about the kids? We promised them, Jen. What should I tell the kids?” asked Jared frantic.

“You can go ahead to the shopping mall. I’ll finish here as soon as I can and we still can meet at the café in front of the mall. You know the one with the rainbow paintings on the window?”

“It’s not that Jen,” exclaimed Jared, clearly upset. When he realized that his upset tone might worry their children, he lowered his voice and went into their bedroom.  

“It’s okay if you made the promise with me, I can understand, but Janet had asked for you about ten times today. She wants to go with her papa, not meeting him at some place later. She wants us to go together like family. You’ll break her heart,” Jared pleaded.

“I know and I am very sorry. Can I talk to her?”

Jensen waited a few seconds for Jared to get their youngest to the phone. There was a Christmas song playing in the background. It must be coming from the CD player in the living room. Jensen heard Jared telling their little girl that he was on the phone. There was a shriek of giddiness before the phone changed hands.

“Papa! You coming? I wear my angel dress,” said a cute exuberant little voice on the other line.

“Oh, really? You wearing it for me?”

“Nooo… I wear them for family. We goes shoppin as family,” said the determined four year old.

“Right, silly me,” Jensen rolled his eyes and smiled. “Well, we will go together as family but papa will be just a _tiny_ bit late, so … can you, your brothers and daddy go ahead and meet me at the rainbow café?” asked Jensen carefully, not wanting his little girl to be upset.

“Why late papa? You still on road?” Janet’s voice was subdued now.

“Yes honey, um … papa must do something first here and it may take a little while so I am afraid that you’ll be late for shopping if you wait for me-”

“But I want to wait for you! Papa please we go together, please please…” the little girl sounded close to tears.

Jensen winced. His heart breaking a little more listening to his daughter’s pleads. “We will honey, I promise but you go ahead with daddy, okay? It will be the same. You can wait for me there then we’ll go shopping together as family.”

The line was silent for a full minute and Jensen was worried that he had broken his little Janet’s heart. Jensen realized that trust was important in family. That was the first thing he and Jared had agreed upon when they were starting a family together. Children, though they forgive easily, they are also hurt easily. They needed stability from their parents and that meant no empty promises. They needed to be able to always trust their parents’ promises. Until now, Jensen had never broken any promise he had made to their children and he knew neither Jared had not either. He opted not to make any promises when he was not sure he could keep it. It was better to explain it to them up front than disappointing them later.

Then, Janet’s cute voice was heard again, “you promise?”

“Yes, honey. I promise,” said Jensen. In his heart, he kept saying prayers for things to go smoothly tonight without anymore hassle. He would hate to be the first one to break a promise.

“Okay, then.”

“Okay, I love you sweetheart.”

“Love you too, papa.”

“Where are your brothers?”

“Andy! Zekey! Papa wants to talk to you!”

Janet screamed for her brothers right next to the phone’s mic and Jensen had to put away his cell phone from his ears. There was a scuffle and Jared’s voice was heard in the distance telling the boys to take turn.

“Hello, papa?” synchronized twin voices were heard over the phone line. Jensen’s six years olds twin boys’ formal greeting.

“You boys good?” asked Jensen in a fake stern voice.

“Yes papa,” they answered in stereo.

“Daddy told us to get ready. He said we’re gonna meet you at the mall?”

That was Zeke, always the curious one.

“Yes, I have to take care of a problem at the dock. Can I trust you two to be on your best behavior? Not straying away from your Daddy and always keeping your sister in your sight?”

“Sure papa!”

“Andy, no teasing your sister.”

“I didn’t!”

“Don’t worry, papa, I’ll keep him in line,” said Zeke snickering at his twin.

“Suck up!”

There was a shuffle followed by a clatter of metal objects hitting the floor, then there was the sound of Jared’s yelling at the boys.

“Hello? J, what’s goin on?” Jensen called when he heard Jared’s voice getting louder.

“… or we won’t go anywhere tonight!”

“Daaaaaad …”  There was a chorus of whiny boys and a couple of stern words from Jared which made Jensen chuckled in mirth. 

“Hello? Jensen, you still there?”

“Yes, what happenned?” Jensen asked with an amused smirk. He could already guess what had happened just then.

“The usual. Roughhousing each other and dropping my phone on the floor,” grumbled Jared, “Look, Jen, I’ll go with the kids now but please finish up whatever you have to do and meet us as soon as you can. Do you know what’ll happen at the mall tonight? A nightmare!”

“Yeah,” Jensen winced, “Sorry baby, I’ll do as best I can. I am sorry, J.”

“It’s okay,” Jared muttered quietly, “Just, … you take care, yeah?”

“You guys too and hey, … I love you,” said Jensen in a soft voice, coaxing a smile on Jared’s lips to bloom.

“I love you too, Jen.”

***

Jared bundled the children in the car and drove Debbie, their babysitter, to her apartment.

“I’ll call when I am back from my parents’ house,” called Debbie from the side road where Jared had dropped her off in front of her apartment building.

“No, don’t you worry about us. I’ve been slaving myself this last year just to get a week more for extended holiday. I have two weeks of instead one,” Jared told her, “Enjoy your holiday Debbie.” 

“Merry Christmas, Debbie!” called the children from the back seat.

“Merry Christmas kids!” Debbie waved looking in through the window. “Have a nice holiday too, Jared.”

Jared waved and restarted the car. The kids stayed waving to their babysitter until the car turned at the corner of the street.

“Daddy can Debbie cele … ceb … have Christmas with us?” asked Janet with an annoyed huff after her embarrassing failure to say the correct word much to the fun of her brothers.

“It’s _celebrating_ , you twerp!” Andy snickered teasingly.

“Shut up!” shouted Janet seriously embarrassed of her lack of vocabulary.

Janet was competitive. She always wanted to know everything there was to know. She was a bit like Zeke in that department, actually, except Janet had a competitive streak unrivaled even by either of her brothers. Jensen thought that was a good thing because every time any of her brothers teased her for something she did not know, she made it her goal to learn it. Jensen adored her while Jared just worried that her competitive tendency would hinder her social development. He was worried that Janet would be a sore loser. It was bad enough to compete with twin obnoxious older brothers. But Jensen assured him that Janet was just a kid, barely four years old. She still had a lot of growing up to do. They cannot expect their children to be perfect, after all.

“She is celebrating Christmas with her family darling,” Jared told her.

“But we family too,” said Janet, genuinely confused.

“Of course she is baby and she’ll be delighted to hear that but she has a daddy and a mommy too. They’d want her to celebrate Christmas with them,” Jared explained to her.

“Like papa?”

“Yes, baby,” Jared smiled at her from the rear view mirror. “And that’s why we are going to see Grandpa Shane and Jake tomorrow. Aren’t you guys excited?”

“Yay!” Janet yelled out her excitement with both arms raised above her head.

Jared saw Andy’s hand creeping behind his sister’s back and pulled at her curly dark hair. She turned to glare at him while Andy grinned innocently.

“Gramps cool,” said Zeke with a smirk on his plump lips, courtesy of Jensen’s generous DNA.

Jared did not really mind that their boys favored Jensen in the looks department since he personally thought of Jensen as the most beautiful man on the planet. He might be biased but he was always filled with these warm and mushy feelings inside whenever he saw Andy’s adorable freckles or Zeke’s expressive green eyes complete with the longish eyelashes. His only contribution was on the boys’ dark hair, which was only a tone lighter than his own hair. He always joked that they needed to have more children in order to balance out the favor; an idea with which Jensen agreed wholeheartedly if only to get Jared with child.

Jensen loved children and he loved having lots of them. Three years after the twins were born Jensen started talking about trying for a girl. Jared suggested that they wait for one more year until the boys were at least four years old. Then they met Janet. Actually, Jensen found her. A year old baby, barely able to walk, crawled out of her parents’ overturned car bawling her eyes out. Jensen was on his way home that night and he was the first one to find them and called 911. They brought her and her parents to the hospital where Jared worked. The parents died on the way to the hospital and Janet, being orphaned had nowhere to go and no living family to claim. Jared then volunteered to provide shelter for the poor baby and the rest was history. Not even once they thought of Janet as not their own, even they boys adored her in their own quirky way.

***

The road was packed, especially around the business centre where people were running around collecting goods for the holiday. Jared was driving around the block looking for an empty slot to park his car. So far, nada. It was getting difficult to concentrate with three over excited children jumping up and down screaming and talking at the same time grating on his nerve and shortening his patience. The only available slot was a block away at the corner of an office building that was closed for holiday. There were three cars parked in front of the dark building. Jared parked his car between a red Buick and a black van. The location was closer to the café where they were supposed to meet with Jensen. Jared wasted no time unbuckling his children’s seatbelts and herding them to the appointed destination after locking his car.

Reaching the café, he was once again faced with another predicament. The café was full; in fact, everywhere else was full. It was a small unremarkable café. On an ordinary day, the café was never even half-full. The reason Jared and Jensen loved that café, beside its extraordinary blend of coffee, was its quiet atmosphere. Most people that frequented the café were regulars but now the place was filled to the brim with people of all ages. Children were running around between tables and a couple of men who had nowhere to sit opted to stand behind their wifes’ chairs.

They stood in front of the establishment for a couple of minutes when Janet said, “Daddy, we goin there?” Her face scrunched up in distaste.

“Of course not, silly. Don’t you see it’s full?” said Andy.

“Let’s just go to store, dad. I wanna play car,” Zeke suggested.

“Okay. I’ll call your papa,” Jared agreed. He pulled out his phone and dialed Jensen’s number. It took another two minutes of waiting before Jensen answered.

“Jen, we can’t go in to the café. It was packed and the kids are restless. How about I take them to shop for few things while waiting for you?”

“Alright, I just need a few more minutes before I wrap things up here and meet you guys. I’ll call when I get there,” said Jensen. His voice was almost swallowed by the ambient noise around Jared. They ended the call and Jared started to guide the children to the big, bright and colorful building across the street. He held Janet’s hand and put a hand on Andy’s shoulder while Zeke was walking in front of them.

Jared took them to the kids store first and his face gone pale at the door. He imagined if one of his kids were lost in there, he would never find them again. Jensen and he had shopped in turn for their children’s Christmas presents a week before and he recalled the place was not half as crowded as it was now. How would Jensen be able to find them later, he did not know. The Twins were begging him to let loose the reins.

“Alright kids, remember, we are looking for presents for your cousins. No buying toys for yourself,” Jared reminded them.

“Santa gets me presents, daddy,” informed Janet. Clearly, she thought her daddy was silly for not knowing that.

“I know sweetheart,” Jared smiled at her before addressing his twin, “Andy, Zeke don’t go outside the store!” but the boys dashed away even before Jared finished his sentence, “and don’t leave the shop until I find you!” he shouted at them.

“Jensen, you are so owing me big time,” Jared said looking around the chaotic place with a wince and noticeable discomfort on his face.

***

Jensen was mad. He was incensed and furious and all around upset since he arrived at the dock and talked to his people there. They informed him of the new regulation that was executed two days before the stuffing date today. Local authorities ordered every shipment out to Japan to be thoroughly re-checked before departure. Something about the smuggling of questionable goods was suspected to happen at the dock. Jensen was told that his office had been notified yesterday and the person in charge of it failed to respond back to the dock to give clearance for the dock personnel to perform thorough checking on the containers’ contents.

Wilson was the person in charge of it and even if he failed to acknowledge the notice, Gonzales would have known. Now his goods were detained and he had to contact local authorities as well as the dock personnel to release his goods and assist in the re-checking process that should have been done that afternoon. Jensen had cleared off five containers and they were being loaded onto the vessel right now. There were five more to go before he was able to sign the damn paper and send off his goods.

“How much longer will the rest of the checking take?” asked Jensen to the dock personnel in attendance. Currently there were two of them. Each person was inspecting one container with the help of Jensen’s employee.

“Shouldn’t be long, sir,” replied the short man coming out of the container holding a sheet of paper on a wooden pad. He brought the paper to Jensen to have it signed and the container secured and loaded off to the ship. It was the seventh container, three more to go.

“I just wished not to be here tonight,” Jensen complained.

“Don’t we all,” said the man, “It’s the last day before the holiday. I just have bad luck to get a shift tonight.”

“I mean I should be with my family shopping tonight, instead my husband has to handle our three children alone in the shopping mall.”

“Ouch!” said the man, winching in sympathy. “You know, I have two daughters. I happened to take them for shopping few months ago and, man, if I never have to do it again I would be forever grateful,” the man groaned pitifully.

Jensen laughed alongside him while they walked side by side to inspect the next container.

“You know, we men are not made for things like that. I don’t know if I have to say that you’re lucky to have a husband instead of a wife but I guess there are plusses and minuses for everything,” he said.

“Yeah, Jared is actually a wonderful guy. He handles our kids way better than I ever would. Perhaps considering that he gave birth to them,” Jensen confided, leaving out the fact about Janet’s adoption. Jared and he had already thought of her as theirs anyway.

“He’s one of them isn’t he? The one who can get pregnant…uh… what would they’re called… Maternity Male?”

Jensen did not hear any prejudice or hostile tone from the other man’s voice, only genuine curiosity, but he knew that there were people out there who looked down upon a man like Jared.

“Yeah,” Jensen said.

He could never be too cautious but Jensen was not a coward either. He loved Jared with all his heart. Why should anyone make it their problem if they did not hurt anybody? Jared was born for a reason. Jensen would proudly and maybe a bit pompously say that Jared was born for him. He would be deliriously happy even if Jared was just an ordinary guy. Yet, the fact that Jared bore him his children had made Jensen’s world so much brighter and happier.

The thought made him miss his family even more. He was inclined to kick the joint goodbye and drove his car away to see them but responsibility was another form of commitment. Let no one say that Jensen Ackles was a man to break commitment.

***

Jared was tired. He had been wandering around the shop for only an hour when extreme fatigue sneaked on him like eel. He reasoned that this tiredness of the past weeks was due to the stress caused by the coming holiday. Add to it the fact that he had not seen his parents for close to two years, making the stress level higher. Oh, they spoke on the phone as often as they could but there was something different between talking on the phone and seeing them. Therefore, he was more than excited about it.

Jared rested his rump heavily on an overturned plastic box of toys and took a deep breath. He knew that Janet was playing in the ball pit at the next aisle and Zeke was playing with a toy car at the car track and Andy … he did not know where Andy was now but he knew that the boy would not dare wandering outside of the shop without him. He already got the presents. He just wanted to rest for a bit under the disguise of waiting for his kids to finish their play.

Jared’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out thinking Jensen called. “Hello?”

“Jared?” asked a heavily accented voice. Jared recognized his voice immediately.

“Yes, Fred. What’s up?”

“I got your special bean ready,” informed Fred, “half a pound of original green beans of _Kopi Luwak_ , freshly imported from Sumatra. What time will you pick it up?”

“Wow! I thought you wouldn’t get it until tomorrow, at least. You know, I’m actually in town now. I’ll stop by to your place after finishing up here.”

“Where are you?”

“Toy store,” Jared sighed.

The heavily accented voice laughed heartily, “Oh man, I feel ya.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see you in fifteen minutes, Fred.”

Jared dialed Jensen’s number after ending Fred’s call but the phone line was busy. He sent him a text instead telling him that he was going for a short trip to Fred’s to pick up the beans and if he was free now to meet him and the children there. Then he heaved himself up and started looking for his children. He got hold of Zeke first, told him to look for his twin and go to the cash register while he fetched Janet.

The kids were protesting that Jared cut short their playing time but he could not leave them there at the toy store while he went to the next block to Fred’s office. In truth, Jared was glad for the interruption. Really, he felt like a bad father who could not keep up for a couple of hours play with his children. He wondered how on earth those other mothers did it? Did they drink some kind of supplement that made them become super mom? Was it because Jared was a man? He did not know many guys like him other than his father Shane and the men from Male Maternity Community in San Antonio. It was not so bad when Jensen was there to share the workload.

The family was walking out of the toy store to their car. Fred’s office was located among the rows of office buildings next block, near the place where they parked the car. So, Jared thought he had better store the presents in the car since they would pass by their car on way to Fred’s.

“Can we go back after we visit Uncle Fred?” asked Andy.

“Let’s see after we get there,” said Jared inwardly hoping that they would never go back there.

“We see papa there?” asked little Janet.

“Well, I’ve sent your papa a message just now. Let’s hope he finishes his work at the dock and meets us there.”

“Why are we visiting Uncle Fred, anyway?” asked Zeke with a cute frown on his forehead.

“To get a present for Grandpa Shane and Grandpa Jake,” answered Jared.

“What present?” asked little Janet just for the sake of asking question.

“A very special one.”

Jared’s parents owned a coffee lounge in San Antonio. His birth father Shane was an adventurous coffee addict, which meant he collected all kinds of coffee beans around the world. It was Shane Padalecki’s long time dream to be able to taste the rarest, most exotic and definitely most expensive coffee in the world. Jensen, being an awesome son-in-law, introduced him to his trading buddy Fred Lehne who was dealing with imported rare goods.

They turned at the corner to where their car was parked. Since most offices there were closed for the holiday, the road was quiet except for the row of cars that were parked at the side. The boisterous noise of the crowd was noticeably diminished when they turned the corner.

The boys were squabbling with each other in front of Jared. Each one of them held a plastic bag and they swung them at each other. Then Zeke was running ahead of them to the car with Andy followed after him. A man suddenly appeared from the rows of cars in front of Zeke and the poor boy crashed into him.

“Zeke!” Jared quickened his step dragging Janet at his side. “I’m so sorry! Please forgive my son. He’s –”

Unexpectedly, the man snatched the plastic bag from Zeke and pushed the shaken boy down on the floor.

“What the … hey!” Jared shouted in outrage. “What the hell did you do that for? He’s just a kid.”

Jared could not see the man’s face clearly under his cap but he reckoned that he was young. Not more than twenty-five and very skittish. He looked around the quiet street for a second before jamming his hand inside his jacket. Jared did not pay him any attention because he was helping a shocked looking Zeke off the floor. Thus, he missed it when the man drew a gun at Andy who stood still not three feet away from him.

“Give me that!” snapped the man while pointing his gun at the scared boy. 

Andy froze in place; eyes round and wide in fright and his freckles stood out on his rapidly paling face.

“Oh God!” Jared gasped and the man pointed the gun at him instead.

“H…hey man just … just take it easy, okay? Just don’t shoot, please,” pleaded Jared with what he thought was a soothing voice. His raised his hands out in a placating way, and trying hard to reason with this mad man.

“Give me your wallet!”

“Okay, okay. Just calm down. I’ll …” Jared pushed Zeke and Janet behind him and reached slowly for his wallet for fear of aggravating the robber.

“Your phone too! Put them here!” the robber thrust Zeke’s plastic bag forward with his left hand.  

Jared threw his wallet and his cell phone into the plastic bag and reached out his hand to the still frozen Andy. “Andy, come here!” called Jared in a low unthreatening tone.

“Give me your bag you dimwit!”

Jared saw that the hand holding the gun tremble along with his labored breathing; the robber was getting more anxious. Jared frowned. Something was not right and he was afraid this situation would get worse no matter how he handled it. Drug addicts were the worst kind of people to deal with and the most unreasonable especially when they were in a state like this. Jared hoped he could still reason with him to let them go alive before things got out of hand.

“Andy, give him the bag,” coaxed Jared. “It’s okay honey. Give your bag to the man and come here.”

Then, everything happened in a blur. The robber lost his patience and snatched Andy’s bag but Andy, who had been frozen in fear, clutched the bag in his tight grip. The robber was mad and pointed his gun at Andy’s head. In a split second Jared’s heartbeat stopped. He did not even realize he was rushing toward his son with a shouted “No!” before his body was thrown back with a bang. On his way down, he glimpsed a small figure dash forward, and another shot was heard reverberating through the night.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jensen, Jared and their kids were supposed to go shopping for the holidays but Jensen's father, who never liked Jared, make it difficult for Jensen to leave work early so Jared and the kids go alone.Later, when they're ready to go back home Jared and the kids are threated by an armed man. The man takes the money, the presents and unexpectedly he shots Jared and one of the kids.When Jensen gets the call he's still in the office.Jared is unconscious, hurt badly but wakes up in Christmas Eve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BETA: peculiar_mind, theendermen
> 
> Originally written as fill for a prompt by Anonymous on spnkink_meme.
> 
> Disclaimer: All real people you’re about to read here? Never met them, certainly don’t own them.

**On December, 22 nd**

**Part Two**

 

“G’night Mr. Ackles!”

“Night Joe! Have a nice holiday!” Jensen waved to one of the truck’s drivers who helped him with the rechecking that night.

“You too, sir!”

Jensen climbed into his car and drove away from the dock as soon as the last container secured and the vessel pulled anchor. The whole friggin’ process took almost two hours and he had been wasting that time cleaning up the mess of his father’s inept staff instead of enjoying shopping night with his family. He needed to have a chat with his father after the holiday.

Jensen looked at his watch and noticed that Jared had been at the mall for two hours already and maybe was pulling his hair out waiting for him right now. Jensen knew that their children were more than a handful if allowed loose in a crowded place like that. He stepped on the gas harder hoping to salvage this night and somehow made up for the lost time. Halfway to his destination, he whipped out his phone to let Jared know that he was coming but his call could not get through. He tried a couple more times and was answered with the same electronic voice telling him that Jared’s number was out of coverage. He frowned confusedly. He did not think that the mall’s signal reception was that bad.

Five minutes later, his phone rang. He immediately pushed the answering button thinking Jared probably got his miscall anyway and now calling him back.

“Baby, I’m on my way now. You still at the mall?”

“Jensen?” said a heavily gruff voice that sounds more like bastardised English on the end of the line.

Jensen looked at his phone’s display in surprise, saw Fred Lehne’s number on the display and raised his eyebrows, “Fred?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Oh, sorry, man. I thought Jared called,” said Jensen sheepishly.

“Well, I am calling to ask you about Jared. He said he was going to my office to pick up the special bean I promised him three months ago-”

“Oh, you got it? Great!”

“Yeah, but Jensen he was supposed to meet me thirty minutes ago. Was planning to close my office and go home when I called him. Said he was in town at the mall with the kids and going to my office in fifteen minutes. So, I decided to wait but he hasn’t show up until now.”

“What?” Jensen frowned. “Hold on a minute…”

Jensen checked his phone closely. There was a message in his inbox from Jared. He must have had missed it when he made a call earlier.

“Yeah, Fred? Jared sent me a text about thirty minutes ago but he didn’t answer my call just now.”

“Same here,” said Fred on the other line. “Know what? I’ll close my office and give a sweep around the block. I’m sure it’s fine but it’s not like Jared to go AWOL like this.”

“Alright, thanks Fred. I am halfway there.”

Jensen stepped on the gas pedal going as fast as he could with anxiety eating away at his heart. His mind went a mile a minute picturing horrible things that could have happened to Jared and their children. All of them left him gasping for breath due to the sudden constriction on his chest and the hollowed out feeling in his stomach.

***

Excruciating pain bloomed in Jared’s stomach. He pushed his palms to press on the spreading red spot on his shirt. Blood gushed out of his wound in sync with his heartbeat. He felt his limb go numb and his head dizzy. He turned his head to his right and saw a small figure in white dress stood silent and unmoving. Janet, he remembered.

“Ja … Janet baby,” Jared gasped.

The little girl did not acknowledge him. She just stood there with vacant eyes and rapid breath. Jared was panting heavily on the floor looking sorrowfully at his little angel. He heard a sob to his left and turned his head to see his son bent over a bloodied lump on the floor.

“Oh God, Andy!”

In spite of his own injury, Jared dragged his limp body across the floor making a wet trail along the three feet he managed to move.

“Z…Zeke, … Andy,” Jared slumped beside his son and reached out to him. He was not sure which one of them who got hurt. The last minutes happened in a blur and the swimming in his head that threatened to swallow him in a fog of painful haze made it hard to concentrate.

The sobbing boy crawled the short distance to his father. Jared’s vision blinked in and out of consciousness. With what felt like lifting a ton of bricks, he grabbed his son’s shirt collar staining the light blue jersey and green jacket with appalling red.

“Call … for help,” Jared gurgled pathetically. Blood drooled out of the corner of his mouth but he gritted his teeth and willed his body to cooperate and be strong for his son.

“Daddy….” the boy whimpered in a small voice. Tears drenched his face.

“Go!” he weakly pushed at his son’s chest. “Da…daddy’ll wait… h…here.”

Another whimper and a terrified shake of head shrunk Jared’s heart. He knew how scared his son must be, but they could not lay there and wait for someone to stumble upon them. One of his sons was bleeding his life out on the dirty floor and his daughter was trapped in a shock. If they did not get help anytime soon, Jared was sure his heart would not be able to take it if he lost them. Jensen would be devastated. Oh God, Jensen! What would he say to Jensen? He had failed to protect their children.

“P..Please! baby…” Jared pleaded for the last time hoping that his son would do what he asked of him.

“Daddy…daddy…” his son sobbed pitifully. 

“Go! Call … help … anyone …,” Jared said between his pants for breath.

Jared’s fingers crept to his son’s neck, he squinted his glazed eyes in an effort to bring the sight of his son’s face into focus. The pain was not relenting. It got worse the more the seconds went by. His insides felt like ferocious lava burning his organs Jared had had his fair share of treating bullet wound patients but only now, he got first hand experience of it. He knew that blood loss was fatal and the more time wasted might result in death. Therefore, it was imperative to get his son to go and get them help as soon as possible before one or both of them went into hypovolemic shock.

The boy stood slowly, trembling all over from the tip of his nose to the sole of his feet. He nodded once and cried harder. He walked backwards with eyes glued to his bleeding father on the floor. Jared tried hard to maintain eye contact to give strength to his son even as his own was fading away rapidly. He managed it until his son turned the corner bawling his eyes out to get them help. Darkness descended swiftly around his consciousness and the last fleeting thought that passed his mind was of Jensen. How he wanted his husband to be at his side. How he wanted that feeling of love and safety that he felt whenever Jensen was around to envelop him instead of the cold and dirty street floor.

“Please …h… hurry…,” Jared whispered in strangled voice before his mind succumbed to darkness.

***

What would you do when you saw a little boy crying on the sidewalk with a face smeared in blood? Would you stand aside and look at him with disgust? Would you come near him and ask what kind of horrible incident befell this poor boy?

Such thing happened that night on December 22nd. The six year old boy was crying. His small feet inched slowly along the street among the throng of people running around minding their own business. Tears and snots dirtied his freckled face, mixed with the blood smeared on his cheek. He was confused and way past frightened but his daddy had told him to go to ask for help…… but … everything looked scary. These people walked pass him and heeded him no mind and he was afraid to call for them. What if they were bad people and hurt him? Hurt him like they hurt his daddy and his twin brother. Yet, his daddy had told him to go get them help; he just did not know whom to ask. He was so scared and wanted his papa but he did not know where papa was. He wanted to go back to his daddy but his daddy was hurt and he did not know how to help him. He could only cry harder.

“Oh my God! Look at that boy!” a motherly voice exclaimed among the daunting sounds of the crowd.

Few seconds later, a warm hand with pudgy fingers touched the boy’s shoulder and a stranger with blue eyes and wispy blond hair forced its way through his blurry vision.

“Sweetie, what happened to you?” the stranger asked with what seemed like a worried frown on her face but the boy was wary still. He took a startled step backwards and eyed the strange woman suspiciously through his tears.

“It’s alright honey. Don’t be scared,” said the stranger with a smile on her face.

The stranger reached out again and touched the boy’s smeared red cheek. “Oh God! Is it … is it blood?” She brought up her smeared fingers and examined them closely under her eyes.

The boy was scared. He wanted to run but this stranger woman seemed nice. Perhaps she could help his daddy and twin brother. She did not look like she was going to hurt him. Then, she turned around to call someone and shortly after, a balding man in towering height came near. This man looked scary and the boy really wanted to run now.

The woman told the man something in a rush and showed him her fingers. The boy did not pay attention to her because his attention was locked on the big and scary man beside the woman. He willed his legs to run but once again, they were frozen. He was always like that; he always froze in fear whenever there was something that scared him. His twin brother always scolded him for that but it was not like he could control it. It just happened.

Then, the big and scary man crouched down on his level and asked, “son, where are your parents?”

The boy looked at the man’s eyes, which had the same color as his daddy’s and that made him remember, “da … daddy … my daddyyyyyyy…” His crying renewed in choking gasps as tears flooded his vision.

“Oh, you poor dear!” The woman reached out her hand to embrace the boy’s shoulder then spoke urgently to the man, “something terrible must have happened to his parents. Paul, we have to help them!”

“But Annie…”

“His parents could be dying somewhere! They could have been in an accident or something!”

The man hesitated a moment but then he turned to the still crying boy and asked, “son, are your parents in trouble?” His question was answered with a shaky nod. “Can you show us where your parents are?” Again, it was answered with a nod.

“It’s alright, darling. You can tell us where they are, perhaps we can help.”

Hearing the word ‘help’ seemed to stir the boy to trust this couple. He then shuffled back leading the couple to where his family lied helplessly and hurt.

The trek to where Jared and his son were shot took only a minute with the adults’ more certain steps. The boy pointed his finger to the corner of the street. The three of them turned away from the busy street to a more subdued one. It was dark and damp and only illuminated by the sparsely street lamp. The alley was frequented during office hour only. The couple looked around the quiet street nervously but then they caught two figures bleeding on the floor.

“Oh dear Lord!”

The man ran ahead and crouched beside them. The boy pried away from the woman’s grasp to run and kneeled beside the badly bleeding man on the floor. There was another body near him; A small boy with blood in a puddle around his head. There was also a little girl in an angel outfit stood silently at the side.

“Paul, call 911! Hurry!”

“I’m on it. I’m on it.”

The man whipped out his phone and dialed 911 while his wife prayed to God in frantic whispers. The boy was shaking his daddy’s chest desperately and calling his name over and over.

***

Jensen slammed his phone down on the seat beside him. A worried frown marred his forehead and anxiety clouded his handsome face. He had called Jared’s phone several times and each time he was greeted with the same monotonous voice. It drove him mad. Jensen told himself repeatedly to calm down that nothing happened to Jared and their children but God help him he could not. There was this churning in his stomach as if he had drunk acid for lunch and now it was corroding his insides. He wanted to call Fred again to ask him if he had news on Jared but he had just ended the man’s call not five minutes ago. He could not have gotten far from his office. Jensen wished he could do something, anything other than waiting the traffic light in front of him to turn green. There were two other cars before him and one of them was an open overtop convertible filled with crazy teenagers playing too loud rock music. The vibration of it rattled Jensen’s car also his nerve making his teeth ground harder and his nail marked his steering wheel deeper. If those aggravating lights did not change in ten seconds, Jensen would snap.

***

Fred Lehne was a man of challenge. His interest of rare goods was mostly derived from the difficulty of acquiring them. He joined the trading business since he was young as a crew in a trading vessel. He had sailed to almost every port around the world before he settled down and started his business. He made his first partner in the owner of the Ackles Co. Jonathan Ackles. His company grew and strived along with the success of Jonathan Ackles and his company. Yet, he was not too fond of the older Ackles. Fred considered the man was too fussy and arrogant for his taste. The son however seemed to be made of a different material altogether. Fred had known Jensen since he was a tyke. He had spent many times in the Ackles residence for various occasions. He preferred Jensen’s approach in dealing with business. That was why when Jensen was of age and given his own office within the company, Fred happily struck a business deal with him. Their relationship was mostly of symbiosis mutualism but they had become good friends throughout the years.

Fred was the first one who wholeheartedly supported Jensen’s decision in marrying Jared. Fred always told Jensen that Jared was special, that there was not many men like him, and that Jensen ought to treat him well or he had Fred to answer to. It was endearing to hear and with Jared’s parents away in San Antonio, Fred had become his surrogate father.

The block where Fred’s office located was unusually quiet at this hour. Only two establishments opened tonight, the Chinese restaurant at the far corner and a pharmacy that opened 24 hours near it. The rest of the buildings were dark and gloom. Fred nodded to an old man sitting in front of the restaurant and exchanged few words with him before crossing the street to his car. The street in front of his office was also quiet with occasional one or two cars passed by every fifteen minutes. There was no sign of Jared there and that old man too did not see a tall guy with three children passed him. Well, the mall was on the next block, Jared could be taking the south alley, and not passing the restaurant to get to his office, but if that happened, he should have seen him already. Fred decided to drive around his block first before going to the next block just in case he missed Jared on the way.

On his way through the south alley there was a police car parked on the side of the street with few people milling about. Fred got a stab of bad feeling in his gut and stopped his car with intention to get information from the officer on duty. One of the officers was busy talking on his radio while his partner managing the crowd.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Fred asked a young woman who stood near a black van.

“Oh, it’s awful! There’re two people been shot and apparently, one of them was just a kid. It was horrible!” said the woman with a sad face.

The bad feeling in Fred’s gut intensifies. He approached the lone officer on the side street, intent to gain more information.

“Excuse me, Sir. Were there two people got shot here?”

“Yes, Sir. But don’t worry both of them are being delivered to the nearest hospital as we speak. If you please return to your-”

“D’you know who they are?”

The officer looked at Fred carefully, “may I know who you are sir? And what’s your interest?”

“My name is Fred Lehne and I have an office just the next block,” said Fred gesturing to the next block where his office was located. The officer followed his hand gesture then nodded telling Fred to continue. “My friend called me forty minutes ago said he would bring his children to visit me in my office but he never showed up. I am afraid that something happened to them. He was shopping in the mall when he called me.”

“A young man, Caucasian, and three children? Two twin boys and a little girl?”

Dread filled Fred’s inside like a slap of ice block slammed his stomach. The officer took one look at Fred’s face then called his fellow officer who stood near the police car. He sent him a kind of code to get ready to go and report to the station before gesturing to Fred to follow him.

“We couldn’t get their identity since the man’s wallet was apparently stolen and the uninjured kids were too shocked to speak. Who’s your friend, sir?”

“Uh, Jared Ackles and his children Zeke, Andy and Janet,” answered Fred in a flat tone. He was too shaken up with the news and silently praying to God that those victims were not Jared and his son.

“Wait a minute,” the officer stopped short halfway to his car and turned to Fred, “Ackles? From the Ackles Company?”

Fred nodded, “Jensen Ackles’ husband and kids.”

The police’s features turned hard then he strode hurriedly to his car. He spoke for a few seconds with his partner before telling Fred to follow them behind their car.

After getting information on which hospital the victims were sent, Fred drove his car behind the police car to the hospital. He contemplated calling Jensen but stopped himself from doing it since it was of no use to scare the poor guy with false, news anyway. The news that Fred desperately hoped to be false no matter what his gut told him. He would decide on what to do when he got to the hospital and learned the identity of the victims.

***

“When did they say the shooting victims will arrive, Kathy?” asked a pretty brunette in white scrubs to the young girl who sat behind the receptionist desk.

“In a minute doctor. They called ten minutes ago,” answered the dark brown haired receptionist from behind her work desk.  

A siren wailed near the front door of the hospital. Two paramedics jumped off the back before another two got off the front seat to help their fellows with dragging down two gurneys from inside the van. The doctor ran over to assist while the paramedics spewed stats and conditions of victims.

“Oh my God! It’s Jared!” the doctor exclaimed in surprise. “Kathy, call Doctor Reese! Ask if he can cancel his flight.”

“Right away doctor!”

The gurney strolled past the receptionist desk when Kathy picked up the phone. She stole a quick glance towards the victim’s face and instantly gasped in shock. The phone handle dangled forgotten in her hand.

“Oh my God! Jared!”

Kathy stood stunned with her hand lifted up covering her mouth, eyes widened in horror following the retreating backs of the doctor and paramedics pushing two gurneys to the trauma centre.

“And Kathy!” the doctor shouted halfway down of the corridor, “call Jensen!”

Kathy snapped out of her shock and immediately resumed dialing. She and Jared were best friends and she resolved to stay in the hospital until she got news that Jared was getting better. Kathy was preparing herself for a long and awful night ahead of her. There was no one to come home to anyway.

Right when Kathy put down the phone, a pair of kids strolled from the front door followed by a couple, middle-aged man and woman. Kathy scrambled off her desk to meet them. She hugged the children with tears in her eyes and a comforting smile on her lips. It was definitely going to be a long and awful night.

***

Jensen’s car turned left with high speed around the corner of the street leaving smoky tire marks on the black asphalt. Horns blared in its wake from disgruntled drivers around it as if they were hellhounds yapping at Jensen’s heels. The imagery might be too bleak but the reality was actually not far from it. Panic had Jensen’s heart in a death grip. Any minute now, it would rip out his heart and leave nothing but a black charred hollowed flesh. Jensen’s eyes did not see the road in front of him, or other cars around him. Layers of still pictures played in slides every time Jensen blinked his eyes and all pictures depicted Jared and his children in horrible states. The more Jensen blinked, the more it got worse, as if they were painted by an asylum inmate; or was it just Jensen’s mind finally in touch with his creative sense? Yet, his car zipped along the road in narrow misses and lots of curses. His body operated in automatic mode. Even Jensen was not sure if he could reach the hospital alive; not that he cared at the moment.

***

Kathy could not look away from the pitiful sight of a boy and a little girl who sat forlornly on the hard plastic hospital chairs. She had guided them to the hospital washroom and cleaned them as best as she could in regards to the circumstances. She got the boy’s face cleaned up from blood and snot revealing those adorable freckles. That was how she knew this was Andy and that meant the one in the trauma centre was Zeke. Then, she sat them on those long chairs and gave them two cupcakes from the kitchen pantry.

Now, five minutes later they still sat there about fifteen feet from her receptionist desk and still had not eaten the cupcake. Andy held the two cupcakes in his hands that laid dejectedly on his lap while his sister Janet sat quietly at his side with one hand clutched tightly on her brother’s sleeve. She had been doing that since they arrived through the front door of the hospital, clutching his brother’s sleeve and refusing to be touched by anyone. Even when Kathy cleaned Andy’s face in the washroom, little Janet never left his side. Whenever Kathy reached for her, she immediately hid behind his brother and when she pushed for her, the little girl got hysterical. Both Janet and Andy had not said any words so far.

“Excuse me, dear. Have you call those poor children’s other family?” asked the nice lady who arrived with Andy and Janet after Jared and Zeke got admitted in Emergency Room. “You seem to know them already. I just think that they should be with family at times like this.”

“Yes, not to worry mam,” answered Kathy with a polite smile, “I’ve already called their papa. I am sure he’ll be here in a moment.”

The nice lady frowned for a moment as she exchanged a look with a man beside her, presumably her husband.

“Um…don’t you mean their mother? Since, I believe their father is the one who got injured.”

“Oh no, mam. Jared is actually a nurse here and my very own best friend. He married a husband not a wife. I’ve called Jensen, Jared’s husband, five minutes ago just before you arrived here. They both are very great people and good friends of mine. It’s awful that this is happening to them. I just can’t imagine what Jensen feels right now. He must be tearing off the road to get here. Oh, I hope he’ll be okay and get here safely,” rambled Kathy. “Oh! Please forgive my ramblings. I tend to do that whenever I got excited or really nervous,” she shyly added.

“I see.”

The lady’s feature got cloudy after listening to Kathy’s rambling. She shared a look with her husband and the man steered his wife away from Kathy with nary a nod to the receptionist.

“Come on, Annie. Let’s just go home, we’ve done enough for them. The sooner we wash our hands from this the better our souls be,” said the husband.

“I just feel very sorry for the children.”

“It’s not their fault to be born such a way. God has spoken. I hope their parents learned His lesson.”

Kathy could not help but be insulted when she unintentionally heard the couple’s conversation. It was too bad that the people who had saved Jared’s and Zeke’s life were a bigoted pair. She just could not fathom the way some people’s mind worked. Jared was the nicest man she ever knew. He was compassionate and generous. It was not fair that people judged him for something that he had no power over. Kathy quickly lost her train of thought when a man in his late forties came barreling through the door demanding to see his friend.

***

Jensen ran down the hall to the emergency room with Kathy close behind him. He barely paid attention to his surroundings. His sole purpose right now was to get to his family, to the two children sat huddled together on the hard plastic chairs beside a middle-aged man. He crouched down in front of them and the two children immediately latched onto him like iron to magnets. Cupcakes flew in two different directions.

“Papa!”

“Hey, baby,” whispered Jensen to his daughter’s hair, “it’s okay, papa’s here.”

“Papa, … daddy… he’s hurt,” cried Andy into Jensen’s shoulder.

“I know. I’m here now. Everything’s gonna be okay,” whispered Jensen to the boy’s ear before planting a kiss to his temple and another kiss to Janet’s hair.

The little girl buried her face on his chest without a word. The only sign of her distress was the way she clutched Jensen’s front shirt so tight. Jensen believed she would have torn it off if he pried her away. He stayed there kneeling on the cold hard floor regardless of his own discomfort for the sake of his children’s solace.

Jensen looked up to find Fred looming over him with sad expression painted his usually stern face.

“Fred, thank you for looking after my children.”

“Hey, none of that, ya hear me?” answered the older man in his gruff voice. Emotion bled through his vocal cords. “You’re family. You, Jared and your kids.”

Jensen nodded with a grateful smile. He was glad that at least he was not alone. He knew that he could always count on Fred in regards of Jared. More than what he could say about his own father. Fred knew how much Jared meant to him.

“Did anyone say anything about Jared’s condition?” asked Jensen.

“No, I don’t think,…” Fred looked up to Kathy who stood few feet behind them. A silent witness to the tearful reunion.

The young receptionist snapped out of her thought. “N-no… not yet, probably not for another half hour.”

Right on cue, the door to the emergency room opened and a blond nurse stepped out. She immediately spotted Kathy in the hallway and approached her.

“Kathy, did you call Dr. Reese?”

“I can’t reach him. The house cleaner said he left for airport an hour ago. His plane has probably taken off by now.”

“Damn it!” the nurse’s face was pinched with worry. “Call the MMC. We’re probably gonna need their Gyn and tell them to send their supply of O Negative.”

Kathy ran back to the front hall to carry out her task. Jensen planted his foot on the floor to get up but Fred placed a firm hand on Jensen’s shoulder telling him to stay with his children for now and to let Fred handle it for him. He stopped the nurse from going in to the ER.

“Excuse me. Could you tell us what Jared and Zeke’s conditions are?”

“I am sorry, Sir. I can’t speak about it right now. The doctor will be with you soon.”

“But, we’re just…”

The nurse closed the door after she fled inside with Fred stood alone in front of it. He turned to Jensen with a resigned look.

“Guess, we’ll just have to wait.” He stepped closer to Jensen and pried Andy off his father. “Come on champ, let your papa sit on the chair.”

Andy looked up at Jensen’s face and when his Papa offered him a smile, he let go of him for few seconds, just enough for Jensen to stand up with Janet clung to him like monkey. The second he sat down on the plastic chair beside Fred, the boy quickly scrambled up to sit on his lap. The two children seemed unwilling to part from their father forever, which is understandable, considering that they were witnesses to a horrible incident involving their family.

Jensen was just relieved. Holding his two children safely in his arms provided a small solace to his frantic state of mind. Even though the condition of his other two beloved was still unknown, Jensen resolved there was nothing he could do other than pray for them.

\------------------------------

Two and a half hour laters found Andy pillowing on his father’s left thigh and Janet sitting on the right. Both fast asleep. Fred was walking back and forth in front of the ER door. His wife came about an hour ago and was now sitting beside Jensen in a silent support. Nurses went in and out of the ER without news on either Jared or Zeke. Jensen was getting frustrated.

Kathy came down the hall with a pile of blankets in her hands.

“Hi, I brought these for the kids,” said the receptionist, sitting near Andy’s leg.

“Thanks Kathy.” Jensen offered her a small smile.

“It’s the least I can do,” said the usually bubbly girl in a solemn voice. “Have you called Jared’s parents? I can do it if you haven’t.”

“Yes, I called them about an hour ago. They’re probably on the way here now.”

Jensen arranged the blanket over Andy’s sleeping form and wrapped another one over Janet. He caressed each of the child’s hair lovingly before settling his palm on their backs. Kathy reached for Jensen’s hand on Andy’s back.

“Jared’s tough. And Zeke’s just as stubborn,” said Kathy with a smirk that made Jensen snorted. “They’ll get through it.”

“Yeah, I really hope so.”

“My shift is over. So, I’ll stay here with you guys if you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not. And thanks, Kathy,” said Jensen, squeezing Kathy’s hand in gratitude.

A woman in white scrubs came out of the ER half an hour later. She made a beeline to where Jensen sat asking to have a few words with him. Jensen lifted up Andy’s head carefully and put a ball of blanket under it before standing up.

“I’ll take this sweetheart for a moment,” said Diane Lehne, reaching out to take Janet out of Jensen’s arm, but the little girl was roused awake when she was moved and instantly screamed in hysterics. She thrashed about wildly in Diane’s arm.

“It’s alright, dear. I’m aunty Diane. You’re safe. It’s okay.”

“Nooooooooooooooooooooo… papaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…”

Her scream woke her brother up and now they had two fussy children to deal with.

“It’s alright, Andy. Janet’s just scared,” said Kathy in a soothing voice. Her hand was rubbing the boy’s back to calm him.

“Why she scared?” asked Andy sleepily. “Where’s papa?”

Jensen rushed back to take Janet from Diane and her screams died down exactly when he held her. She clung to him so tight, trembling limbs wound around Jensen’s body.

“Shhh… baby it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Papa?” called Andy, struggling to get up from under the blanket. His eyes looked into Jensen’s anxiously.

“It’s okay, Andy,” said Jensen crouching down to his son’s eye level. “You see that doctor?”

Jensen pointed at the doctor who stood few paces behind them. When he saw Andy’s nod he asked him again. “You know her?”

“Doctor Med,” said Andy in recognition. He knew her because Jared loved to introduce his family to his close friends at the hospital whenever Jensen brought their children to visit him there.

“Right! Now, papa’s going over there with Doctor Med,” said Jensen pointing to a corner near the stairs. “She needs to talk to me about your daddy and your brother but you have to stay here, okay? I won’t be long. You’ll still be able to see me.”

Andy nodded obediently.

“Good boy!” praised Jensen while rubbing Andy’s hair.

Jensen followed the doctor with Janet stuck to his chest. The frightened girl pressed her face on the crook of his neck.

“Poor girl, she must be traumatized,” the doctor sighed sadly.

“Yeah, I just don’t know what to do. Please tell me you have news.” Jensen looked at the Doctor’s eyes imploringly.

“Well, I have good news and bad news,” began the doctor. “The good news is Zeke survived. The bullet grazed his head pretty bad and he lost lots of blood but he’s stable right now. A few millimeters to the left, we’d have to have dug it out, then we wouldn’t have been sure about his survival.”

“That’s good! So, when can we see him?” asked Jensen hopefully.

“He’s being transferred to another room as we speak. You’ll be able to see him once we get him settled but what I’d like to talk to you about is Jared.”

Jensen’s breath was stuck in his chest. He was almost afraid to ask but he figured that she was going to say it anyway so he just braced himself for the worse. Wrapping his arms tighter around his daughter, he waited.

“Jared caught a bullet in his abdomen. A few centimeters from his uterus, but the hemorrhaging was bad, resulting in abdominal trauma. It almost destroyed the surrounding tissue. We got the bullet out and he’s stable for now but we still need to monitor it. Besides that, he also suffered a mild concussion probably due to the time he hits the floor, so we need to stabilize that too before performing further action, because when the gynecologist from MMC arrives, we’re going to perform a second operation, hopefully the last, if no complication happens.”

“Wh… why bringin’ in the gyn?” asked Jensen with dread filled his heart.

The doctor hesitated for a moment before she brought her hand to Jensen’s arm and looked at his eyes with sadness.

“Jensen, Jared’s pregnant.”

A mouthful of breath expelled from Jensen’s lungs. He looked at the doctor with disbelief for few seconds before it switched to fear.

“Just a couple of weeks, we guesstimate, four tops,” continued the Doctor as if oblivious to Jensen’s turmoil. “Jared might not have known. We wouldn’t either, if we’d found the bullet away from his uterus. Then we would be in a more complicated situation because in a situation like this, the embryo wouldn’t be able to survive and we’d found out about it too late. We would just assume that the hemorrhaging is only due to the bullet wounds, neglecting Jared’s delicate condition. There are many worse scenarios from that situation.”

“God … I …”

Jensen was lost for words. This was very cruel. Heartless and cold and Jensen could not take it anymore. He gazed at the doctor, who was Jared’s close friend, willed her to take back her words, to spare Jensen’s heart from breaking apart, to end this nightmare that swallowed his world.

“I’m so sorry, Jensen. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we need to let it loose. We only hope no lasting damage happens to Jared’s womb. I am not an Ob/Gyn, let alone for male pregnancy so I can’t give you more detailed explanation. As you already know, maternity male’s body operates a bit different to female.”

“Just … just give me your professional opinion,” asked Jensen in a broken voice.

“Well, Jared’s strong. If it’s up to him, I have no doubt that the odds will be in his favor.”

Jensen took a deep breath and hardened his jaw. Tears threatened to spill out of the corner of his eyes but he held them at bay with the will of his stubborn mind. He knew this was not the time for melancholy bullshit. His children needed him right now and when Zeke and Jared woke up, they would need him to be strong for them too. Jensen wrapped his arms tighter around his little girl, strengthening his resolve. He stared down the shorter woman and spoke to her in his most firm voice that he could muster.

“Med,” Jensen started, using the doctor’s nickname, trespassing professional boundary, “I give you permission to do whatever you think is best to safe Jared’s life. However, I want you to keep it to yourself. No one should know about the baby.”

“I respect my patient’s wishes, Jensen. You know that. But the nurses in the operating room are bound to know.”

“I know. But just them and you. You can talk to Fred and Jared’s parents about his health condition, except that. I don’t want anyone to blurt out to Jared when he’s not ready for it. Leave it to me. Please.”

They stared each other down for a few seconds with the doctor gauging Jensen’s will. Dr. Medowitch had known Jared since the first time the energetic and lovable young man worked in that hospital. She even admitted Jensen within her trauma room seven years ago when the boy foolishly decided to give his car an overhaul, with him inside. She knew Jensen would do anything to ensure Jared’s wellbeing and happiness. Yet, the couple never went through this kind of tragedy in their life.

“I know you’ll do the best for Jared. I’ll go talk to the nurses,” said the doctor relented.

“Thank you.”


	3. Part 3-A

**On December, 22 nd**

**Part Three  
A**

 

The next hours went in a blur of anxiety and angst. During that time, several things happened. Dr. Amber Benson from San Antonio MMC came striding through the front door half an hour after Jensen’s distressful conversation with Doctor Med. The charismatic Ob/Gyn with no nonsense attitude happened to be in Victoria City when she got the call. She spoke for few minutes with Doctor Med before they went to prepare the second operation.

Jared’s parents came an hour later while Jared was still in the operation room. Jensen and his two children were in Zeke’s recovery room when that happened. Jensen woke his daughter while in there and persuaded her to let go of him to see his injured brother. She refused at first but Jensen was determined to get the poor girl out of her self-imposed cell.

“Baby, come on look. It’s Zeke. He’s alright, see?”

Janet opened her sleepy eyes and peeked from Jensen’s chest. When she saw her brother lying motionless on the bed with wide bandages around his head, she turned her face back into her father’s chest.

“It’s alright, baby. Zeke’s just sleeping, right Andy? Didn’t you boys have fun at the toy store tonight?” Jensen asked his son who just nodded mutely while staring at his twin from his bedside.

“What did you play there, Andy?”

It took few seconds but finally the freckled boy answered in solemn voice, “slides… Zeke played hot wheels.”

“Yeah, he does love those hot wheels cars, doesn’t he?” said Jensen in a fake cheerfulness. “I bet he must be tired.”

“Bad man hurt Zeke,” said Andy ignoring his father’s attempt to comfort his sister. “He won’t wake up. Daddy won’t wake up too. Why won’t he wake up? Daddy told me to go get help then he won’t wake up anymore. Zeke too…”

“Hey, hey, hey, Andy… look at me.”

Andy’s rambles worried Jensen immensely. He dropped on his knees and grabbed the boy’s shoulder to face him. Andy still refused to look at him; his eyes were glued to the still form of his twin brother.

“Come on, tough guy, don’t do this please,” said Jensen softly at his son.

Jensen caught his son’s chin and steered it to face him. He studied his son’s face and noted the lack of distress shown in his green eyes, only blank stare of confusion. “God, Andy,” whispered Jensen in agony over his children’s pain.

The hardest part of this tragedy was perhaps seeing his children struggle to deal with the shock. They were just children for God’s sake! They should only know happiness and love. Jensen really did not know if he was strong enough to deal with all of this without Jared. He always admired Jared’s strength to stand strong against the world. It was one of the reasons why he fell in love with him.

“Andy, listen to me, okay,” Jensen started, “Zeke is going to be fine. Daddy too, I promise you. You know that I never break my promise, don’t you?”

Jensen waited until he saw his boy’s nod, although slow. He really needed to make sure that his words were understood, that his son found strength in him like what he found in Jared.

“Good. Now, do you want to sit next to Zeke?” asked Jensen softly. He was already standing up and went to the corner to grab a chair.

He pulled the chair closer next to Zeke’s bedside and helped Andy to sit on it. Then he took another and sat himself beside his son with Janet on his lap. He put his arm around Andy’s shoulder and said, “So, you guys wanna tell me what you did all day today?”

\------------------------------------

The arrival of The Padaleckis provoked flood of tears to erupt among the visitors, especially Shane and the women. Jensen, who had spent the night next to his son’s bed, felt so drained of emotions that he lost ability to empathise with them. Shane Padalecki grabbed him tight the second he saw Jensen and showered Andy with tearful kisses while his husband hugged the silent boy.

“How’s my boy?” rasped Shane Padalecki, hugging Andy in his arms.

“He’s still in the operation room, now. The Ob/Gyn from MMC arrived an hour ago and they hauled Jared in minutes later.”

“What’s the doctor said?” asked Jake.

“Ob/Gyn? … Why would they call them?” Shane inquired at the same time as his husband.

“Well, Med told me that Jared has a good chance to survive and they called the MMC earlier for a blood donor, I think,” says Jensen adjusting his hold on his sleeping daughter and looking at her peaceful sleeping face.

He could not look at them in the eyes because he could not tell them about the fetus. Jensen knew Jared never lied to his parents no matter how bad things were but Jensen viewed this as his own personal failure, that no matter how he looked at it he was the one at fault. If only he did not go to the dock that night. If only he came to the mall sooner, then Jared and Zeke would be all right.

They were distracted for a moment by Andy’s struggle to be out of his grandfather’s hold. He ran back into his brother’s room to sit on the chair beside Zeke’s bed. All three men’s hearts went out to the gloomy little boy who was sitting beside his twin brother’s bed. His sad pair of eyes never strayed far from the still form on the bed.

“I couldn’t even imagine how awful it was for the kids. You know, seeing their daddy and brother like that,” whispered Shane. Jake pulled his husband in the circle of his arms, soothingly rubbing the shorter man’s arms in a show of comfort.

“Eliza and Amelie will be here tomorrow and keep you company while we are settling in a hotel,” said Jake.

“No, no! You should just go to our house and when Amelie and Eliza come tomorrow, they can go straight there too. They must be tired with all the long journey and change of plans.”

“Jensen, you shouldn’t be worried about that. We can go to a hotel it’s not a pro-”

“No, Jake. I insist. It wouldn’t feel right to have you guys crashing in a hotel room while I have plenty of rooms available at the house. Please, Jared wouldn’t like either,” pleaded Jensen in a soft tone that tugged at both men’s heartstrings.

Jake and Shane traded a look before relenting and took Jensen’s offer. “Alright. Only if you promise to get at least some rest while we take turns watching over your son,” said Jake, tapping Jensen’s arm. 

“No, I can’t. I have to wait until Jared’s out of the operation room and I know that he’s going to be alright. Right now I…. I can’t think of anything … I’m too strung out and…”

“We understand,” said Shane, offering a smile while he rubbed Janet’s back with his right palm. “Would you at least let me take this sweetheart off your arms for a while, so you can lie down?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Jensen…”

“No, it’s not like that. I’d be glad if you can hold Janet for a while and I trust you, both of you, to watch out for my children but Janet is … she’s …” Jensen trailed off, looking for the right word to convey his dilemma. “She won’t be apart from me. Diane tried to pry her off me before and she went hysterical.”

“Oh! My poor baby,” whispered Shane, kissing his granddaughter’s hair.

“If you guys wanna go in and see Zeke, go ahead. I’ll stay here and stretch my legs. You can keep Andy company for a while.”

“Of course. Come on Shay.” Jake steered his husband towards the room where they treated Zeke for recovery.

\------------------------------------

Near dawn, Dr. Medowitch approached Jensen and invited him into her office. Jensen left Zeke’s room with mixed feelings jumbled inside. After the arrival of their grandparents, the children were a bit calmer although Janet still refused to stay away from Jensen. Kathy and the hospital staff provided a small cot inside Zeke’s room for his siblings to rest and sleep. Janet was sleeping beside Andy on the cot with Shane continuously rubbing their arms and stroking their hair. At first, they demanded Jensen to stay with them, rubbing their skin until they fell asleep but then Shane took over. They had not stirred, yet.

Shane had a distinctive motherhood in him that was similar to Jared. The fact that he was Jared’s birth father was not lost on Jensen. Therefore, he completely understood if his children were closer to Jared’s parents than to his own parents. Even now, Jensen had not called his parents about Jared and Zeke. His mother might not have the same opinion as his father but Jensen was still wary to inform her. He was afraid that he might rant at her instead. It was better to clear his mind and calm his nerves, preferably, after Jared’s condition was better before he called either of his parents.

Dr. Med’s office was a small and cozy room at the corner of the east wing near the elevator. It was decorated in such a way to invoke calmness and tranquility. Jensen was welcomed into the office by Dr. Benson who had been waiting for them after Jared’s operation.

“Please have a sit, Jensen.” Dr. Med gestured Jensen to a chair in front of her work desk while Dr. Benson took a seat next to him. She sat behind her desk and made a quick introduction between Jensen and the Ob/Gyn. “This is Dr. Benson from San Antonio MMC.”

“Hi, I’m so grateful that you’re here doctor,” said Jensen respectfully while offering his hand. 

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Ackles. I was in Victoria visiting a patient when the MMC called me. I reckon I’ll just go straight in here,” said the Ob/Gyn, smiling sincerely and shaking Jensen’s hand.

“We would like to inform you that Jared’s operation went fairly well considering that we had a close call during the time,” said Dr. Med.

“Wh… what happened?” asked Jensen. Fear crept inside his heart making his pulse beats faster dreading the news delivered by the Doctors.

Dr. Med shared a look with her colleague Dr. Benson before continuing, “the abortion process took such a toll on Jared’s already fragile condition that his … heart …stopped for ten seconds during the operation.”

“Oh, God!”

Jensen was horrified. His face paled and his heartbeat seemed to stop for a second there. He stood up abruptly to pace the length of Dr. Med’s office. Fingers went to his hair in a stilted movement signaling his distress.

“But we got him back,” rushed Dr. Med in an attempt to alleviate Jensen’s stress, “and we’ve succeeded in stopping the hemorrhaging in Jared’s abdomen although his condition is still unstable right now. We keep him under monitoring in the next twenty four hours.”

“How about his uterus?” asked Jensen, stopping in the middle of the room with both hands on his hips facing the Doctors. “You said the hemorrhaging has caused enough damage on it.”

“Yes, we’re very sorry that we couldn’t save the fetus, Mr. Ackles. I believe, Dr. Med, I believe, has informed you about the severity of the wound,” answered Dr. Benson.

“But is it salvageable? I mean can he …” Jensen moved his right hand in front of his stomach trying to convey his meaning without saying.

“You mean, can Jared pregnant again?” Dr. Benson picked up when Jensen trailed off hesitating to even say the word. “In my professional opinion, yes. But, like Meri said,” she paused, gesturing to Dr. Med with her first name, “We still need to closely monitor his condition in the next twenty four hours before we can decide the next action. He lost lots of blood and even though the bullet did not penetrate the uterus, the internal bleeding from damage of the surrounding tissues may impinge on it. I will personally monitor him until he is at least stable and we can move him into a more flexible room.”

“Right now, we are settling him in one of the ICU rooms. He can have visitors but we strongly advise to limit them to only two visitors at a time,” said Dr. Meridian Medowitch.

“So, can I see him now?” asked Jensen in a rush. The distress in his voice cannot mask his eagerness in seeing his husband again. He walked to his chair to put his hands on its back.

“In a few more minutes. Amber will take you there while I call the ICU but before I do that I want to clarify something with you,” said Dr. Med looking straight at Jensen.

“Sure! As long as it doesn’t take a long time,” said Jensen shrugging his shoulder. At this point, he would answer anything as long as they took him to see Jared.  

“I was informing Dr. Benson here that you wish for the fact of Jared’s condition regarding his unborn fetus to be kept secret to only us and a couple of nurses?”

“Yes,” answered Jensen determinedly. “Not even Jared. He doesn’t need to know that. Not when he’s not ready to hear it.”

“But I strongly suggest you tell him as soon as possible, Mr. Ackles, because it may help with the recovery process if the patient knows what’s happened with his body,” said Dr. Benson.

“I understand.” Jensen nodded his acquiescence to the Ob/Gyn’s suggestion but whether he did the suggestion or not was left to be seen. He would put it on the back burner for now and get to it when the situation called for it.

“Alright, then. I’ll just head out now,” said Dr. Benson, seemingly satisfied with Jensen’s promise. She rose up and made a beeline towards the door with Jensen following closely. Back at her desk, Dr. Med made a call to the ICU unit to inform them of the coming visitors.

\------------------------------------

Jensen opened the glass door to Jared’s ICU room very carefully and let himself in before closing the door quietly behind him. He approached the bed in the middle of the room with noiseless steps, eyes locked on his husband’s still form.

Jared’s skin was pale. There were too many tubes and electrodes strapped on his body that made him looked more like a robot than a human. Jensen stood beside the bed and reached up his hand to brush Jared’s limp bangs out of his wide forehead. He leaned over to kiss it.

“Oh, J…”

Jensen scanned Jared’s body, noting fresh bandages around his abdomen under the thin hospital clothes. He touched the area around the wound imagining the life that resided in there mere hours ago. Tears welled up at the corner of his eyes and one rolled down his freckled cheek followed by an anguish sob.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” whispered Jensen tearfully. He kissed Jared’s parched lips, whispering apologies all the while. “Please forgive me, J. If I knew that this would happen I’ll … I’ll go straight home and I’ll … ” Jensen’s next words were swallowed by his sobs. There was a heavy lead pressing down on his chest making it hard to breath. The guilt was coursing inside of him like thorns cutting him from inside.

“You have to get better, J.  For me and for our children. I can’t go on without you. I’m barely able handling Janet’s hysterics and Andy’s shock all by my self. Please, baby…”

Jensen spent the next thirty minutes in Jared’s ICU rooms whispering love words and occasional pleading in his husband’s ears until one of the nurse entered the room to check on Jared’s vitals. Jensen had to turn around to wipe his tears on the sleeves of his shirt. The nurse informed him that there were people waiting outside the ICU rooms wanting to see Jared. They would not come in when Jensen was still inside because they understand that he would need some time alone with Jared. Jensen told her that he would come out to let the visitors see Jared in turn.

Shane rushed towards him as soon as he closed the door to Jared’s room. He demanded Jensen in a frantic voice to tell him about his son’s condition.

“You can go in and see him, Shane. Only two visitors at a time,” informed Jensen at Shane and Jake.

“Come on, Jake! I wanna see my boy.” Shane dragged his husband inside the room. The other visitors, Fred and Diane waited patiently for their turn behind them.

“Who’s looking after my kids?” Jensen asked them.

“Kathy stayed behind in Zeke’s room to look after Andy and Janet. They were still sleeping when we left them,” said Fred.

“How is he, Jensen? Did you talk to the Doctors? What did they say?” asked Diane.

Jensen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before answering, “As for now, he’s still stable but Doctors need to make sure in the next twenty four hours.”

“Jared is strong, Jensen. Did I tell you that? He’ll get through this, you’ll see,” said Fred with full conviction. Jensen could not help but feel relieved by Fred’s assurance. The older man had become his confidant for the past years. He was there when Jensen’s own father failed to attend. He was the first supporter of Jensen’s choice in marrying Jared.

“Thanks Fred, Diane. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it.”

“Hey, no need for that boy,” Fred interjected with a shake of his head. “Ain’t we all family?”

“Jensen, you ‘n Jared’re like our own sons. We’ve been thinking of your kids as our grandchildren,” said Diane, touching Jensen’s cheek with her warm palm. “Please don’t take this privilege from us. We’re here for you and your family. Anything you need, dear. We’ll be happy to help.”

“Thanks, Diane,” rasped Jensen, offering a smile to the middle-aged woman who smiled at him in turn.

“Have you called your mother?” asked Diane.

“Ugh… no, I … I haven’t. It’s … it’s just not come to me-”

“It’s alright, sweetie. Would you leave it to me? I’ll give her a call,” offered Diane.

“Thanks, Diane. I’m sorry to bother you.”

“No, no, it’s okay.”

“I’ll go see my kids now and tell them about Jared. Maybe after they see that their daddy is … somewhat okay they’ll get through their shock.”

“Yes, that’ll be good for them. We’ll stay here and wait for our turn,” said Fred.

After exchanging a look with the Lehnes, Jensen walked out of the ICU to go to Zeke’s room. He hoped that Janet and Andy did not wake up while he was gone because it would be unfair for Kathy if she had to deal with hysterical children on her own.

Jensen peeked in through the slow opening door and saw Kathy sat beside Zeke’s bed stroking the little boy’s hair. Andy and Janet, thankfully, were still sleeping on the small cot at the corner. He slipped inside and closed the door quietly.

Kathy turned at him to whisper, “Hey, how’s Jared?”

Jensen stepped closer to her while looking at his son laying on the hospital bed. He came to the other side of the bed touching Zeke’s cheek lovingly. “He’s okay, for now. The operation went well but Doctors are still keeping him in close watch for the next twenty four hours. I think he’ll get through it.”

“Oh, thank God!” exclaimed Kathy still in a whispery voice. She clasped her palms on her chest. “I’m so happy for him.”

“Thanks, Kathy,” said Jensen offering her a smile. “So, how’s my tough guy, here?”

“Oh, he hasn’t stirred but that’s okay. Nothing to be worried about,” assured Kathy. “Head wounds looks more severe than it actually are. Usually the patient takes longer to wake up.”

Jensen nodded in understanding. For a moment, no one said a word as Jensen stroke his son’s dark brown hair. Then, Kathy stood up saying that she would go and see Jared.

“I think I better go see Jared. It’ll ease my mind when I see him alright.”

“You should go home and take some rest, Kathy. I don’t mean to kick you out but Jared wouldn’t want you to tire yourself out. You still have to go to work.”

“It’s alright. My shift starts this afternoon. I’ll go see Jared then go home to change, wash up and come back here. See you then, Jensen.” Kathy walked to the cot to snatch her purse that she left on the floor near the food of the cot before walking out of the room waving at Jensen.

“See ya, Kath. Take care!”  

Jensen took Kathy’s chair beside Zeke’s bed and held his son’s right hand in him.

“Hey, Zekey boy. Don’t you wanna open your eyes and see your papa? Your brother and sister are getting tired waiting for you to wake up. They want to play with you again,” said Jensen softly to the unconscious boy. “So, what d’ya think, huh?”

Jensen smiled playfully and ran his fingers on Zeke’s hair but the smile waned slowly when he got no response from his son. He took a deep breath and settled in for another long haul of waiting.

\------------------------------------

The afternoon of the 23rd signaled the dawn of hope in Jensen’s family, but not without drama. Jensen managed to have some shuteye in the afternoon after taking Andy and Janet to see Jared. He spent the next two hours curling up on the cot with his children until someone shook his shoulder. He opened his eyes blearily and blinked a few times against the harsh glare of the hospital light. There was a woman stood above him beside the cot peering down at him. He chanced a look at his children, checking if they were okay. Once he was sure that they were fine, he slowly sat up and almost fell out of the small cot.

“Oops! Careful there,” said the woman, helping Jensen righting himself. Jensen sat gingerly at the side of the cot feeling his muscle crick in pain due to uncomfortable sleeping position. He looked up towards the woman who was now smiling fondly at him.

“Uuh… Amelie?”

“Right on!” Amelie, Jared’s big sister smiled amusedly at Jensen’s dazed expression. Clearly, the younger man in front of her had not woken up completely. “Eliza’s over there,” she gestured towards the hospital bed where Jensen can see another brunette woman sat beside Zeke’s bed. Eliza waved her hand at Jensen, wearing a similar expression as her sister.

“When did you get here?”

“About an hour ago. We didn’t wake you up because dads said you haven’t got any sleep for a whole night,” said Amelie taking a seat next to her sister.

“Ughh …” Jensen groaned painfully rubbing his face with both his hand shaking off the sleep. “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep when Jared was still in the operation room.”

“We understand, Jensen,” said Eliza. “We would let you sleep a bit longer but there’s someone outside who wants to see you.”

Jensen raised his eyebrow. “Who?”

“Perhaps it’s better if you go out there and see her,” suggested Eliza. When Jensen looked at his sleeping children beside him she continued, “The kids’ll be alright.”

After stroking each of the children’s disheveled hair and kissing their foreheads, Jensen rose up and walked out of the room. There were three people talking with each other in the waiting room next to the wing where Zeke was being treated. Two of them were Jared’s parents while the other one, a woman, sat on the waiting chair in front of the two men with her back towards Jensen. He knew that Fred and Diane had left the hospital, an hour ago before he went to sleep with his kids, to get some rest once they were sure that Jared was out of danger, at least for now. Therefore, it could not be Diane although they shared the same hair color.

Jake’s eyes trained on Jensen as soon as he walked into the waiting room and that sprung the woman in front of him to turn around to greet a mildly surprised Jensen.

“Ma?”

“Oh, Jensen!” Jensen’s mother, Donna Ackles rushed to grab her son in a tight embrace. “Oh, baby I’m so sorry.”

Jensen was surprised to see his mother there before he remembered that Diane had promised she would call her for him. He returned his mother’s embrace with one of his own and let her cry on his shoulder for a good five minutes.

“Jensen, why didn’t you call me?” chastised Donna when she let him go. “Instead, I have to find out from Diane. How’s Zekey?”

“He’s still unconscious right now but otherwise he’s fine. His body just needs to rest and reboot from all the blood loss. Doctor said he’ll wake up later when it’s time. And Jared got out of the operation room early this morning. He’s still under supervision but so far nothing serious happened,” said Jensen.

“Oh, that’s good.” Donna smiled before adding, “Your father left for New York this morning. I couldn’t reach him on the phone.”

Jensen snorted, “huh, that’s not surprising.”

“Don’t be like that, Jensen. Your father doesn’t know about this,” Donna chastised her son.

“But he had no qualms about sending me out to the dock to clear up his employee’s messes when I could have been with Jared and our kids tonight. If I were there, they wouldn’t be hospitalized!”

“Are you blaming your father?” asked Donna in disbelief.

“Ma, dad knew that I already had a plan for last night. I told him about our plan to visit Jared’s parents today and he took offense at it.”

“Jensen, you’re talking like your father’s a four year old child.”

“Well, he does and it’s not the first time.” Jensen pinched the bridge of his nose when a headache started to form. “I don’t have to explain any of this to you, ma. You already know what dad thinks about Jared and I’ve had a bad enough day as it is.”

“I know how your father is, Jensen. But I’m sure even he wouldn’t want this to happen to your family,” said Donna firmly believed in her husband. “I’m not here to fight with you. I’m here to see my grandchild.”

Jensen let out a long sigh, “alright but … just for a second.” Jensen approached Jared’s parents, taking out his house and car keys and offering them a ride in his car.

“Oh no need, Jensen. We brought our own car,” said Jake refusing to take Jensen’s car key and only accepting his house key. “We’ll be back soon after getting changed and eating something; the girls could take our car in turn.”

“They can take my car-”

“No, no, it’s okay. We won’t bother you with that. Don’t you worry about that kinda thing, son. We’ll take care of everything. Food and blankets for the kids. Hospital blankets are kinda sucky, yeah?” said Shane from the corner of his lips, intended as a joke. Jensen snorted in amusement. Shane is a lovable guy and Jensen really appreciated his effort to cheer him up. It was not hard to tell where Jared got his sense of humor.

“Don’t let him mother you to death, Jensen. I still believe it’s one of the reasons why our children run far away from home,” Jake quipped.

“They didn’t run away, you glob!” protested Shane with a smack on Jake’s stomach.

“Ouch, Shane baby, that’s domestic abuse,” said Jake pouting and rubbing his fake injured stomach.

Jensen just snickered at their antics. He did not even want to know where Shane came up with the word glob regarding to his husband.

“Alright guys I’ll leave you to it. Gotta take my mother to see Zeke and later Jared.”

“Sure, Jensen. We’ll be back soon with provisions and everything,” said Jake, slapping Jensen’s arm twice in manly support before wrapping his arm around Shane and walking out of the waiting room together.


	4. Part 3-B

  
**On December, 22nd**  
Part Three  
B

  


Jensen turned back to where his mother waited impatiently and led her to Zeke’s room. Donna followed silently behind him. When they were just few steps from the slightly opened door, Jensen heard a commotion coming from inside.

“Oh honey, papa’ll be back soon. Shhh….”

“Papaaa…. Nooo… papaaaaa…,”cried Janet, “want papaaa…. Papaaaa…”

Jensen hurried to enter and saw that Amelie was struggling with a fussy four year old who was crying and struggling to get out of her arms. “Let me take her, Amelie.”

The little girl held her papa tight while she continued shedding her tears on Jensen’s shirt. “Heyyy… little angel. It’s okay. It’s just Aunty Amelie, see?” He turned the little girl towards Amelie who was sitting beside Andy on the cot. The little girl peeked behind her fist that clutched Jensen’s shirt on his chest. Then, he turned towards the hospital bed where Eliza sat near it. “And there’s Aunty Eliza and this is grandma.” Jensen turned around towards his mother who stood behind Jensen.

“Oh, sweetheart it’s okay. Don’t cry, grandma’s here,” said Donna stroking Janet’s curly hair, trading a sad look with her son.

“Hiks … hiks … scared,” Janet whimpered into Jensen’s neck.

“Shhh… baby, no need to be scared. Nothing can hurt you here.” Jensen took a seat beside Andy and the little boy immediately laced his arms around Jensen’s waist. Jensen looped his arms around his son’s shoulder. Donna moved to Zeke’s bedside looking over her grandson.

“Papa? We’ll see daddy?” asked Andy.

“Yes, in a minute, okay. When your sister stops crying,” promised Jensen. “We wouldn’t want daddy to be sad when he sees Janet here crying, would we?”

“Not cry,” whispered Janet in a cute pout.

“Sure you don’t,” said Jensen with a teasing smile. “Let’s wipe this up, then?” Jensen wiped Janet’s wet cheek with his fingers. Amelie rummaged in her bag to get a handkerchief and gave it to Jensen. “Thanks, Amelie.”

“No problem,” said Amelie with a smile. “Wouldn’t want that pretty face full of tears.”

They were cheering up the crying girl when Eliza let out a gasp and rose to her feet standing over Zeke. “I think he just moved his fingers,” she breathed.  

Jensen quickly jumped off the cot almost trampling Andy in his hurry to reach Zeke’s bedside. Amelie followed in his wake. Donna stepped back to give Jensen more room near the head of the bed. She moved beside Eliza, instead.

“Zekey? …” called Jensen softly. “Hey, champ are you awake?”

After a couple of minutes without response from Zeke, they thought that it was a false alarm. Jensen touched his palm on Zeke’s cheek, his eyes roamed over his son’s feature for any signal that he was on the brink of consciousness.

“Are you sure you saw his fingers move?” asked Amelie towards her sister.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’ve been grasping his hand and felt that he moved his fingers.”

“I’m sure you are dear,” said Donna with an appeasing smile, “but perhaps little Zekey here just decided that he wants more sleep.”

However, Jensen did not give in. He kept stroking his son’s cheek in an attempt to rouse him to wake. He thought he saw a flicker of movement under his eyelid. He knew that his son was waking up but something held him down in unconsciousness.

“Zekey…” whimpered the little girl with a voice so low Jensen almost could not hear it.

Jensen shifted his attention to his daughter. “Yes, baby. Apparently your brother is stubborn,” said Jensen teasingly. “He wants to play hide and seek with us. Why don’t you call him so he gets out of hiding?” Then, he turned to Andy who stood beside him. “Go on, Andy. Zeke is a very sneaky when he doesn’t want to be found does he? He hid himself too well so we had to tear up the house to find him, remember?”

Andy nodded his head and looking at his father. Jensen encouraged him to call his twin brother’s name hoping that his family’s voice would pull Zeke’s consciousness to the surface.

“Zeke…” called Andy tentatively.

“Harder, son. Go on!”

“Zeke!”

Then, Jensen joined the call. “Come on, tough guy! Wakey wakey… the whole family’s here. Don’t you wanna meet them?”

“Yes, Zekey. I may have a present for you. You just have to wake up,” said Elize joining in the call.

Soon the whole room was filled with the sounds of Zeke’s name being called repeatedly along with many promises and incentive for the unconscious boy to wake up. Janet looked on curiously from her perch on her father’s chest. Then, she pointed her little finger to her brother’s face saying, “Zekey wake up.”

It was true; Zeke was waking up. The movements behind his eyelids were getting noticeable and his fingers started to respond on Eliza’s touch. The family was getting more excited in their calling. Smiles bloomed on their lips eagerly awaits the little boy’s eyes to open.  Slowly, those longish eyelashes lifted up. Hesitantly, they revealed a pretty pair of green eyes behind them. They were unfocused at first and blinking lazily for few seconds. Then they started to look around. Jensen caught them with a pair of his own greens, smiling down at him.

“Heeyyyy…. Look who we got here,” greeted Jensen with a relieved smile.

“Zeke! Zekey…” Andy was jumping up and down excitedly grabbing his twin brother’s arms with both his hands. “He wakes up, papa! Zeke wakes up!” said Andy turning up to look at his equally overjoyed father.

“He is now, isn’t he,” said Jensen agreed. “Look angel, Zekey wakes up.”

Janet’s lips corner lifted up seeing her brother had awake and her brother answered with a small smile of his own. Zeke moved his lips to say something but no sound was heard.

“Oh! Water, I’ll get water!” Amelie immediately darted over to the small table near the corner and came back with a water bottle and a straw. She handed them over to Eliza since she cannot reach Zeke’s lips from her position near the foot of the bed.

Eliza put the end of the straw into Zeke’s parched lips and urged the boy to take a few sips. “Go on, honey. It’ll wet your throat.”

Zeke took a few sips before he pulled away to look at his father. “Papa,” whispered Zeke, “where am I?”

“You’re at the hospital, buddy. Got us in a bit of fright there. Little angel here won’t stop crying,” said Jensen making a pout formed on his daughter’s lips.

“I not,” denied Janet with a cute frown.

“Hehe… course you didn’t.” Jensen kissed the little girl on her cheeks and her nose coaxing a smile glowed on her face. He was glad to see his children happy again. They brought into him a new hope and strength to face the next challenge, Jared. Jensen felt the rays of sun finally shone on his little family and he felt that things were really going to be okay now.

Zeke was being entertained by his aunty and grandma. Both Amelie and Eliza had brought along their presents for the kids since they went straight to the hospital after they got off their plane and had not had time to store them anywhere. Amelie elevated Zeke’s bed so the injured boy could recline on his bed. Janet asked to be allowed to sit beside her brother on the bed. The three siblings were sharing a laugh before Zeke asked innocently, “where’s daddy?”

That question put a hamper on the brief happiness surrounding the room. The adults were afraid to say anything; they looked at Jensen for guidance. Andy and Janet lost their smile, which made Zeke confused. Janet even let out a sob with glassy eyes and trembling lips. She turned to Jensen to lift up her arms silently asked her papa to hold her and Jensen did just that.

“Hey, Andy, what’s up?” Zeke shook his twin’s shoulder but Andy refused to look up. Then, he looked at his papa and asked, “papa? Where’s daddy?”

Jensen adjusted Janet in his arms. The little girl was leaning her left cheek on her father’s left shoulder. “Zeke, what did you remember?”

Zeke blinked a few times before saying, “uhh … there’s a bad man pointing a gun at Andy. He took all of our presents and dad’s wallet … and his phone. And …I think I ran at Andy because ...” the boy trailed off and frowned. “Ow!” Zeke’s right hand came up to touch his injured temple only to have Eliza catch it.

“No, honey. Don’t touch. It’s still healing,” said his Aunty Eliza soothingly. 

“My head hurts,” complained Zeke.

“Amelie, would you please call the nurse,” asked Jensen and Amelie quickly darted outside to call the nurse in attendance on the nurse station at the end of the hall. Jensen touched Zeke’s left cheek and said in his most reassuring voice, “Son, don’t you worry about it. Daddy’ll be fine, I promise. Now, you just need to get better, okay?”

Zeke looked at Jensen questioningly between winces of pain that was getting worse the more he tried to remember that night.

A nurse came in and the adults made a way for her to go near Zeke’s bed.

“Hello there! We’re so glad that you decide to wake up, honey. Your family’s been anxious. Now, let’s take care of that pain shall we?” said the friendly nurse with a smile. She pulled out a syringe and injected the liquid into Zeke’s IV. “There we go,” said the nurse before looking at Jensen saying, “He’ll be feeling sleepy once the painkiller enters his system.”

“Okay thanks,” said Jensen nodding and smiling at her.

“No problem. Now, I’ll leave you to check on the other patient. Call me if you need anything.”

After the nurse left the room, the adults crowded around Zeke’s bed. Donna rubbed his legs lovingly. “Just rest and get better, dear. Don’t worry about anything.”

“When you’re better we’ll take you to see daddy,” promised Jensen.

“But where’s daddy?”

“Daddy’s resting now. Don’t worry. When he wakes up, I’ll tell him that you’re getting better. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that.”

“Promise?” asked Zeke sleepily. Jensen noted that the medicine had worked on his system making him drowsy. “Wanna see…daddy…” whispered the sleepy boy, blinking heavily.

“I promise. Now go to sleep, buddy. Rest now,” said Jensen while rubbing his son’s chest.

Zeke did not wake up again until late at night. The sisters had been begged off to rest and changed at Jensen’s house right when their parents returned to the hospital at nine with food and blankets as they promised. The children were fast asleep when their grandfathers came. Jensen asked them to watch his kids while he took his mother to visit Jared in ICU.

Once again, Jensen stood beside Jared’s bed, this time with his mother at his side. Donna held her son’s hand all the time and Jensen broke down in front of her and it was perhaps the first time Donna had a heart to heart conversation with her son. Jensen could not help the string of words that came out of his mouth as he relayed to her all the things that had happened the last couple of days. He told her about Andy and Janet’s emotional shock and Jared’s almost failed operation. Although, he still kept the secret about Jared’s unborn baby close to heart. He understood that Zeke had somehow saved his twin and Jensen was afraid that Andy would keep a kind of guilt over it. Not to mention his own guilt over the whole thing. It was very easy to blame it on other people such as his father but Jensen knew that the bulk of the fault would fall on his shoulder.

Donna let him cry on her shoulder just like she used to do during Jensen’s younger years. Even though they were not too close before, Jensen was her only son. She always believed her husband’s words and thought Jared was the one who drove a wedge between Jensen and his parents, but now, seeing how badly her son broke down in front of her had forced her to re think her opinion.

Jensen was a reserved person. He guarded his feelings like a hound guarding a slab of meat and let no one enter his comfort zone. The only other person whom he allowed to get close was Jared. He even kept his parents at a distance mainly because of the difference in regards of Jensen’s sexual preferences. Jonathan Ackles hated Jared because he thought of him as no better than a whore or man-whore according to his words. He thought Jensen only married Jared because the younger man had trapped him with pregnancy six years ago.

Jensen’s father was a traditional man. Even though the male maternity had existed for more than half a century, he still held the old norm religiously by thinking that those pregnant males were abomination of the highest order. He did not go so overboard as to actively harm them but his opinion on the matter was not to be challenged either. He kept thinking that Jensen would come to his senses sooner or later and leave Jared. Jonathan thought of Jensen’s children as his grandchildren but refused to acknowledge Jared as Jensen’s legally wedded husband. He never even struck a conversation with Jared whenever Jensen brought his family to his house every year. He was lucky that Jared owned such a big heart. No matter how his father in law treated him he always encouraged Jensen to visit his parent’s house every year if only to not let the family tie be broken and their children be strangers with their own grandparents.

Donna was often torn between her husband and her son. Traditionally, she shared her husband’s opinion on maternity males in general but since her son wedded one and had children with one of them, she gave Jared a second thought. Even though she was not too pleased with Jensen’s choice in marriage, she mostly swallowed her distastes because she still wanted to see her grandchildren. It was also a good thing that Andy and Zeke looked exactly like Jensen that the older Ackles had no choice than to acknowledge them as their grandchildren. She did treat Jared better than her husband did but her overall opinion on male pregnancy in general had not changed.

\------------------------------------

Near dawn on the twenty-fourth, the doctors invited Jensen into their office. Donna had gone home at midnight with a promise to come back once she got hold of Jensen’s father. Jensen said not to bother. He would not expect his father to visit them but he would welcome if it his mother wanted to come again later. They exchanged an argument over that and Donna left the hospital with an unsettled feeling. Jensen could not muster any thought to care. He left his sleeping children with Jake and Shane while he made the second trip to Dr. Med’s office.

“Come in, Mr. Ackles. Please have a seat,” greeting Dr. Benson after admitting him inside.

“Please call me Jensen. Mr. Ackles is my father and I would prefer you not to remind me of him,” said Jensen politely.

Dr. Benson frowned for a moment regarding of Jensen’s reason before dismissing it and saying, “very well, then you’ll have to call me Amber.”

“Thanks Amber.”

“You’re welcome. Meri has a good news for you,” said Amber as she took her previous seat in front of Dr. Med’s work desk while Jensen sat beside her.

“Oh, yeah?” asked Jensen full of hopeful anticipation. “Is it about Jared?”

“Yes, Jensen. We are very pleased that Jared has shown remarkable progress this past twenty-four hours. He is not rejecting the blood transfusion that we’ve been giving him and comes out of the critical situation in a slightly better condition,” began Meridian Medowitch.

“He’s lucky that I am familiar with his medical history since his birth father Shane is an active volunteer at the San Antonio MMC,” Amber chimed in.

“So, we decided to move him to a recovery room while we wait for a full recovery,” continued Med.

“Can we move him into Zeke’s recovery room?” suggested Jensen, “I think it’s big enough for two beds in there.”

Amber and Med changed a look for a brief moment with Jensen taking turn looking at their facial expressions.

“I don’t see the problem,” said Amber with a shrug, “as long as the patient has lots of undisturbed rest.”

“Of course! I’ll guarantee that!”

“Alright then,” said Med as she rose to her feet. “I’ll notify the nurse station to prepare Zeke’s room and we’ll be transferring Jared in a while.”

“Thank you Med, Amber,” said Jensen rising up to shake Med and Amber’s hand.

“Only doing our job, Jensen. We’re glad that Jared’s doing better than we thought. His will to live is marvelous,” said Amber.

“He is,” said Jensen agreed.

“I’m afraid I have to return to San Antonio today. I’ll leave my note for Dr. Reese so when he is on duty he will be able to continue monitoring Jared’s recovery,” said Amber as they were walking to the door.

“No!” exclaimed Jensen suddenly surprising Amber and Med. “No, please, Amber I would like you to continue monitoring Jared because Dr. Reese doesn’t know about the abortion and I want to keep it that way.”

“Well…” Amber hesitated but Jensen rushed on.

“You’re familiar with Jared’s medical history from when he stayed in San Antonio, right?” asked Jensen.

Amber shared a look with Med and when she nodded at her, she agreed to Jensen’s request. “Alright, I’m sure Meri here can handle it during my absence. At this stage all Jared needs is rest, until his body is finished repairing the injured tissues but if there are any other complications with his womb in the next few days during his recovery, she can call me at my cell.”

“Of course, Amber. Jared is like family to us here. We’ll make sure he makes a full recovery,” said Med before she looked at Jensen saying, “don’t worry Jensen, although I’m not a gynecologist, I’ll make sure to monitor his progress. I’ll have another Ultrasound before you leave, Amber, so you’ll have the latest report on Jared’s condition.”

“Sure, I’ll need to bring all that report with me then, Meri.”

“You’ll have it after the Ultrasound.”

Jensen heaved a relieve sigh. He opened the door to let the two doctors walked pass him before closing it and followed them to Jared’s ICU room for the last check up.

True to her words, Med performed the Ultrasound and declared that Jared is recovering slowly but steadily. The wound would still need to be kept sterile and Jared would still need blood transfusion in at least a couple of days or until his body regenerated enough blood cell to speed up the recovery process. Jensen left the ICU when the doctors and nurses were busy preparing the transfer to go to Zeke’s room. Shane greeted him as soon as he opened the door.

“They said they’ll move Jared here?” asked Shane looking up hopefully at Jensen’s face.

“Yes, Shane. I’ve been talking with the doctors and they decided to release him out of ICU. I suggested that Jared to be moved here. So, they are preparing to transfer him, right now.”

“That’s wonderful!” Shane shouted joyfully turning towards his husband who was sitting beside Zeke’s bed. “Did you hear that, Jake? They’ll be moving Jared here. That means he’ll going to be okay now, right Jensen?”

“Yes. He’s going to be okay,” answered Jensen with a smile. Just like Jared’s, Shane’s happiness was contagious.

The loud sounds of clanking as the nurses rolled Jared’s bed into Zeke’s recovery room had woken up Andy and Janet. The children sat huddled beside their father looking at the busy nurses flitting about the room. Jared had two IV’s connected to two plastic bags hung on two poles at his bedside, one for blood transfusion and one for his liquids. Another catheter hung at his side with a long tube hidden under his blanket. The nurses checked on his tubes and made some necessary adjustments before leaving the room.

“Papa, it’s daddy,” whispered Andy. He remembered that he must be quiet whenever his papa took him to visit his daddy at the glass room.

“Yes, Andy. It’s daddy. Do you wanna go near?” asked Jensen and be answered by a nod. “Come, then.”

Jensen came near Jared’s bedside on the right while Shane and Jake were sitting on the left. Jensen lifted up Janet in his arm so she could look at her daddy. Jensen noted Jared’s complexion was a bit brighter and healthier than the day before. He was very optimist that Jared would wake up soon.

“Papa, when daddy’ll wake up?” asked Andy from beside Jensen looking at Jared through the railings.

“Soon, daddy’ll wake up soon,” answered Jensen, putting a hand around Andy’s shoulder.

Zeke woke up an hour after Jared’s transfer into his room. Jensen quickly told him that his daddy is there with them. The boy was excited but his happy smile quickly turned sour when he saw his daddy laid up unconscious on a bed next to him.

“Daddy’s hurt but he’ll be better soon. He just needs more rest. Don’t worry, okay?”

“Did the bad man hurt daddy too?” asked Zeke.

“Yes dear,” answered Shane. “But, you see, your daddy’s strong, right? No bad man can hurt him. He’ll wake up soon.”

That did not seem to appease the injured boy, so the family spent the whole day just having fun. Shane was telling them some funny stories that happened at his coffee lounge. His stories varied from the downright hilarious to the weird one.

The family spent Christmas Eve in Zeke’s room with Kathy occasionally dropping by, checking on them before she had to return to her desk. The adults were trying to cheer up the children with singing and presents. Jake and Shane were singing children songs for the kids. Amelie and Eliza came at noon bringing more presents and the afternoon was spent with the kids opening their presents. Zeke and Andy each got similar presents, most of them were toys. Zeke was overjoyed when he found a portable PSP inside one of the boxes.

“That’s for the two of you so you have to take turn in playing,” said Amelie.

“Thanks Aunty Amelie,” said Zeke.

“Yeah, thanks Aunty,” said Andy before scrambling up onto his twin’s bed. The boys laid side by side with Andy at Zeke’s left side so he did not accidentally hit Zeke’s injured temple. Soon, they were engrossed in some kind of racing game on the toy.

Amelie and Eliza were sitting on the cot with Janet helping the little girl open her presents when Fred and Diane came about in the afternoon bringing a huge man-sized pink teddy with red and purple ribbons behind them. Janet’s eyes got huge once she saw it and her happy smile was a balm to Jensen’s heart. She was almost swallowed by her new teddy when she hugged it.

“Oh, no!” gasped Eliza playfully, “where’s Janet?”

“I dunno. I don’t see her anywhere,” answered Amelie. “Do you see her, Jensen?”

“Nope! No Janet in here,” said Jensen playing along which coaxed a giggle to erupt from the supposedly missing girl.

In the middle of their laughter, Jared finally opened his eyes. Jensen was standing beside Jared’s bed smiling at his daughter’s giggles. He had his hands draped on top of the side railing as he leaned his back on it. He almost jumped up in surprised when he felt fingers lightly touch his hand. He turned around slowly and found a pair of hazel eyes looking at him. The sheer force of love that glowed from those lovely pair blew Jensen’s mind away.

“Jared?” Jensen whispered in mix of disbelief and joy. His husband answered him with his trademark smile that showed his adorable dimples that made him remembered all those years ago when he first laid eyes on Jared. Now, their positions were reversed. Now, Jared was the one who laid up on a hospital bed while Jensen stayed vigil by his side. Yet, those dimples were the same. The same patch of hollow on smooth cheeks that Jensen he had fallen in love with all those years ago and still captured his heart now.

Jensen grasped Jared’s hand in his own and leaned over, touching their foreheads together.

“Oh God! Baby,” whispered Jensen as a sob sneaked out of his lips. “I was so scared, love.”

“Jen … you weren’t crying when you first woke up on a hospital bed seven years ago,” teased Jared in an almost silent whisper. Jensen had to laugh at that. Trust Jared to cheer Jensen up even when he was the one who laid helpless and injured on a hospital bed.

“I love you so much, J.”

“Not as much as I love you,” Jared countered back. The few days spent unconscious in ICU did not lessen his amount of wit.

“How long have you been awake, Love?”

“Long enough to miss you,” answered Jared. The words sent a compulsion in Jensen’s brain to kiss those witty lips. A feeling of elation and relieve drenched Jensen’s soul. For the first time in the last three days, Jensen felt his muscles and nerves started to uncoil. Oh, he knew that the road to recovery was still long ahead of them and he would not be deluding himself that the road would be an easy one but he was sure that he would survive it with Jared by his side.

Right when Jensen pulled back from his kiss, he glimpsed a movement from the other side of Jared’s bed. Amelie had Janet on her hips. The little girl was stretching her arms out crying for her daddy, tears rolling down her smooth baby cheeks. “Daddyyyyy…”

“Careful, darling. Daddy’s still hurt.” Amelie was lowering Janet onto Jared’s bed and she immediately curled beside her daddy’s chest, laying her head on Jared’s shoulder, getting her daddy’s hospital shirt wet with her tears.

“Heyy… sweetheart. What’s it with this tears, hmm? I’m okay, now. See?” Jared planted kisses on the curly hair as his daughter sobbed on his chest.

Shane and Jake came beside Jensen with Zeke and Andy perched on their grandparents’ hips while Fred, Diane and Eliza approached the foot of the bed. Jensen’s left hand was holding Jared’s right, threading their fingers together. He did not plan to let go anytime soon.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Thank you for everyone who've enjoyed this fic. This is actually the first fic I wrote for Supernatural fandom despite my fangirling ever since I saw the Pilot. Ah, how time flies. I have lots of pleasure writing this fic and have learned lots of things regarding writing. Gaining new few friends that I hope to add more. :D Thank you! Oh, and I may have more plan in the future for this 'verse as you can see there are things still left untied. It's intentional. ;P


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